Signet acquiring Zale in $1.4B deal

The companies announced in a joint release issued Wednesday morning that Signet, parent company of Akron, Ohio-based Sterling Jewelers Inc., is paying $21 a share for Zale. The transaction has an enterprise value, including debt, of $1.4 billion.

The transaction is expected to close this year.

The merger of Signet and Zale, which ranked as the No. 1 and No. 4 jewelers respectively in the United States on National Jeweler’s last State of the Majors list, creates a company that will operate some of the most recognizable jewelry brands in the world, including Kay Jewelers, Jared the Galleria of Jewelry, Zales and the Piercing Pagoda in the United States, H. Samuel and Ernest Jones in the United Kingdom and Peoples Jewellers in Canada.