: Beacon Roofing Supply to buy back about $805 million in stock from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice

Beacon Roofing Supply Inc. BECN stock is up 0.8% in premarket trades Friday after the company said it plans to repurchase 400,000 shares of Series A preferred stock from private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) for $804.5 million plus accrued and unpaid dividends. The deal will reduce the company’s diluted share count on an as-converted basis by 9.69 million shares and eliminate preferred dividends of $24 million per year, while simplifying the company’s capital structure, the company said. CD&R will continue to own 15.2 million shares of common stock. Beacon Roofing said it expects to report second-quarter earnings of$1.88 to $1.97 a share, compared to the analyst forecast of $2.21 a share, according to estimates compiled by FactSet. It’s projecting second-quarter net sales of $2.5 billion, ahead of the analyst estimate of $2.44 billion.

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