Amazon, T-Mobile, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Among Winners of 2017 MACD Awards

NEW YORK, Nov. 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Deal, a business unit of TheStreet (NASDAQ: TST), will announce the winners of its 10^th Annual Most Admired Corporate Dealmakers (MACD) Awards today. The presentation will take place during The Deal Economy Conference at the JW Marriott Essex House in New York.

"This year's competition was exceptionally close," said Jeff Davis, President of The Deal, "because in all industry sectors considered, executives appear to have made the right decisions to address the challenges facing their firms. On behalf of The Deal, congratulations to the best of the best."

By sector, the 2017 MACD winners are:

ENERGY: Parsley Energy (PE) may or may not have made the best deals in the energy patch over the past year, but no one can argue the company's founder and CEO Bryan Sheffield didn't time them pretty well. The billionaire oil executive has about 230,000 acres in arguably the hottest resource play in the world under his control, and for the last roughly 80,000 acres or so, his company shelled out very little cash and added relatively little debt.

TELECOM: While AT&T has undoubtedly made the biggest splash with the acquisition of Time Warner, T-Mobile USA (TMUS) us arguably in the best strategic position in telecom. The company spent $8 billion on wireless spectrum this year to bolster its network as it poaches customers from AT&T and Verizon.

MEDIA: For more than 30 years, Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI) executive chairman David Smith acquired dozens of TV stations, concentrating on small markets while capitalizing on federal rules allowing companies to own or operate multiple stations in the same market. In May, Sinclair won agreement for a very different kind of deal: the proposed acquisition of Tribune Media Co. and the opportunity to enter much bigger markets and strengthen its ability to negotiate fees with pay-TV operators.

TECHNOLOGY: Cloud app and infrastructure adoption has put old-guard enterprise IT giants such as Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) in a tough spot. HPE's response has been to shed a large portion of its struggling software and services businesses, and use acquisitions to expand into still-growing hardware markets. There's something to be said for trying to stand out in one realm rather than trying to be everything to everyone.

RETAIL: PE firm Sycamore Partners acquired struggling office supply retailer Staples Inc. (SPLS) in June. The transaction is a win for Staples, as its former proposed merger with rival Office Depot Inc. was blocked on anti-trust concerns the year before. Sycamore, a retail specialist, will hopefully be able to improve Staples' dwindling sales and store traffic.

CONSUMER: A month after Amazon's (AMZN) $13.7 billion deal for Whole Foods Market, investors still aren't clear on the Internet giant's strategy, but what's not in doubt is that the deal will prove transformative to retail and grocery. And while Jeff Bezos has no food retail experience, he also lacked experience in book selling, mass retailing, cloud computing, logistics and television production, areas the company now dominates.

FINANCIAL SERVICES: With its purchase of Capital Bank Financial Corp., First Horizon National Corp (FHN) will gain greater access to the North Carolina markets of Raleigh, Greensboro and Charlotte, and offer an opportunity to add deposit customers in Florida. The combined company will be the fourth largest bank in the Southeast, with $40 billion in assets.

HEALTHCARE: In April, Becton, Dickinson & Co. (BDX) unveiled the biggest deal in its 120-year history, the $24 billion acquisition of medical technology peer C.R. Bard Inc. The transaction "makes financial sense (even at a premium valuation), and strategically makes BD an even stronger hospital supply company," according to William Blair & Co. analyst Brian Weinstein.

INDUSTRIALS: WestRock Co.'s (WRK) chief executive Steven C. Voorhees gets the nod not for any single mesmerizing transaction, but for tying strategic M&A into its efforts to streamlining its diverse portfolio. WestRock announced its acquisition of Multi Packaging Solutions International Ltd. (MPSX) – its biggest deal in its two-year existence – just one week after agreeing to sell its specialty dispenser business to Silgan Holdings Inc. (SLGN).

The MACD awards process starts with The Deal's newsroom scrutinizing the 10 biggest transactions of 2017 in each of nine sectors. Reporters then interviews analysts, bankers and other experts to determine the five nominees behind those deals - and others - that are considered the most significant and potentially successful in terms of strategic vision and shareholder returns. Winners were chosen by a panel of top Deal editors, based on a simple majority vote.

To watch the live stream of The Deal Economy Conference including The Most Admired Corporate Dealmaker awards presentation, click here.

The conference is produced by The Deal and BoardEx, and presented in collaboration with Ansarda, EY, Pepper Hamilton, Latham & Watkins, Morrison & Foerster, Bain & Company, Okapi Partners, Donnelley Financial Solutions, ACA Aponix, Nelson Mullins, and Workshare.

About The Deal 
The Deal (www.thedeal.com) provides actionable, intraday coverage of mergers, acquisitions and all other changes in corporate control to institutional investors, private equity, hedge funds and the firms that serve them. The Deal is a business unit of TheStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ: TST, www.t.st), a leading financial news and information provider. Other business units include TheStreet (www.thestreet.com), an unbiased source of business news and market analysis for investors; BoardEx (www.boardex.com), a relationship mapping service of corporate directors and officers; and RateWatch (www.rate-watch.com), which supplies rate and fee data from banks and credit unions across the U.S.

Contact: Jon Kostakopoulos, 212-321-5561, Jon.Kostakopoulos at thestreet.com

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