Your firm is pursuing an acquisition. After consulting with your colleagues, following are the assumptions you will use to estimate the value of the potential acquisition. These assumptions include the anticipated synergy value. The forecast period is five years. At the end of five years, calculate a residual value using the growth perpetuity method.

Sales (last historical period)	$1,556,618 thousand
Sales growth rate (%)	10.0
COGS (% of sales)	52.5
SG&A (% of sales)	32.5
Depreciation (% of sales)	3.5 **
Cash income tax rate	30.0
Capital expenditures (% of sales)	4.5
Working capital (last historical period)	$212,741 thousand
Inventory Turnover (COGS)	2.75x
Ave. Collection Period (360)	46 days
Days Payable Outstanding (360)	64 days
Accruals (% of sales)	4.75
Long-term FCF growth rate (%)	5.0
Cost of capital (%)	12.0

**Depreciation expense is already included in COGS and/or SG&A.

Assume the firm has $60,820 (000) debt outstanding and no surplus cash. If the firm has 34.618 million shares outstanding, what is the maximum per share price you should be willing to pay for this acquisition? If the current standalone value of the firms stock is $40 per share, what is the value of the synergy being created?

Research a recent merger/acquisition (within the past 3 years). How did the market respond to the merger announcement for both the acquired and acquiring firms? Identify potential synergies that could be achieved as a result of the merger.