Cintas agrees to buy UniFirst in $5.5 billion deal paying $155 cash plus stock
On March 10, 2026, Cintas entered a merger agreement to acquire UniFirst at an implied enterprise value of about $5.5 billion. UniFirst shareholders would receive $155 in cash and 0.7720 Cintas shares per share, a combined $310 based on Cintas's March 9, 2026 closing price of $200.77, and the deal is expected to close in the second half of calendar 2026. The deal adds new cash and share obligations for Cintas shareholders, while Cintas also reported preliminary fiscal third-quarter 2026 revenue growth of 8.9%.
Key points
- Consideration: $155 in cash and 0.7720 Cintas shares per UniFirst share, a combined $310 based on Cintas's $200.77 close on March 9, 2026
- Termination fees: $213.3 million payable by UniFirst to Cintas and $350 million payable by Cintas to UniFirst in specified circumstances
- Cintas expects approximately $375 million of operating cost synergies within four years and EPS accretion by the end of the second full year after closing
- Cintas preliminary fiscal Q3 2026 revenue was $2.84 billion, up 8.9% from $2.61 billion; full results are due March 25, 2026
The filing
Written by AI (Anthropic Claude, claude-haiku-5-5) on Nov 8, 2026, 1:21 AM ET, from the text of the filing and its press-release exhibits only. Written later: this filing was briefed after the fact, when past filings were added to the site, so the brief may be read with hindsight; the filing itself is the record of what was known on March 11, 2026.
Briefs are written by AI from the filing text (each brief's own page names the model) and can contain mistakes — open the filing before acting on anything. Impact (1-5) and tone are the model's reading of the filing for shareholders, not a price forecast. Not investment advice.