As the Mars acquisition closes in, Kellanova’s final trading day, S&P 500 removal and cash payout terms are front and center for investors.
Key points at a glance
- Kellanova (NYSE: K) effectively had its last regular trading day on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, with index provider Solactive flagging December 10 as the expected final trading date for K shares. [1]
- The stock closed at $83.44, slipped just 0.01% on the day, and ticked up slightly to $83.48 in after‑hours trading, keeping it within pennies of the agreed takeover price. [2]
- Mars’ $36 billion all‑cash acquisition of Kellanova has cleared all regulatory hurdles; the companies expect to close the deal on Thursday, December 11, 2025, after final conditions are satisfied. [3]
- Ares Management (NYSE: ARES) will join the S&P 500 before the opening bell on December 11, replacing Kellanova, reflecting the snack maker’s move into private hands. [4]
- Shareholders are slated to receive $83.50 in cash per share, according to a corporate‑action notice, implying almost no arbitrage spread left after Wednesday’s close. [5]
Below is what happened after the bell on December 10—and what matters before markets open on December 11.
Where Kellanova stock stands after the bell
By the end of trading on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, Kellanova looked very much like a “done deal” merger‑arb name rather than a typical consumer‑staples stock.
- Regular session close: $83.44, down just $0.01 (-0.01%) on the day. [6]
- Intraday range: a remarkably tight band between $83.42 and $83.48. [7]
- After‑hours quote: around $83.48 by roughly 8 p.m. EST, a 4‑cent (0.05%) uptick from the close. [8]
Trading activity told the real story: volume on December 10 spiked to about 33.3 million shares, compared with recent daily volumes mostly in the low single‑digit millions, as passive funds and arbitrageurs executed final repositioning trades. [9]
In other words, by the end of the post‑market session, Kellanova’s share price had effectively converged with the $83.50 cash consideration offered by Mars, leaving just a few cents of spread and very little room for speculative upside.
The Mars–Kellanova deal: terms, timing and delisting
The backdrop for Wednesday’s quiet price action is one of the biggest deals the packaged‑foods world has seen in years.
Deal structure
- Buyer: Mars, Incorporated – a privately held global giant in pet care, confectionery and snacks.
- Target: Kellanova – the snacks‑centric successor to the old Kellogg Company, home to Pringles, Cheez‑It, Pop‑Tarts, Rice Krispies Treats, RXBAR, Eggo, MorningStar Farms, Special K and more. [10]
- Consideration:$83.50 in cash per Kellanova share, valuing the transaction at roughly $35.9–$36 billion, depending on the share count used. [11]
Mars and Kellanova announced on December 8 that the European Commission had granted unconditional approval for the acquisition, closing out the last of 28 regulatory reviews worldwide. [12]
In their joint statement, the companies said they “anticipate closing the pending transaction on December 11, 2025,” subject to customary closing conditions. [13]
What happens to Kellanova shares?
Both the Kellanova press release and third‑party index providers are explicit about the next step:
- Once the transaction closes, Kellanova’s common stock will be delisted and will cease trading on the New York Stock Exchange. [14]
- A corporate‑action notice from Solactive states that each Kellanova shareholder will receive $83.50 in cash per share, with the “last trading date expected to be December 10, 2025.” [15]
Taken together, that means by the time U.S. markets open on Thursday, December 11, investors should be prepared for:
- Kellanova no longer being an actively traded stock (or being suspended pending final settlement), and
- Cash consideration to follow via the normal corporate‑action process in brokerage accounts.
For remaining shareholders, the story from here is administrative rather than market‑driven.
S&P 500 exit: Kellanova out, Ares in
The Mars takeover doesn’t just remove Kellanova from the NYSE; it also triggers a significant index reshuffle.
On December 9, S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that Ares Management (NYSE: ARES) will join the S&P 500 before the market opens on December 11, replacing Kellanova as the snack maker disappears into Mars’ private empire. [16]
MarketScreener’s feed shows a flurry of index‑removal flags for Kellanova posted around 7:25–7:27 p.m. EST on December 10, covering not just the headline S&P 500, but also associated benchmarks like:
- S&P Global BMI
- S&P 500 Equal Weight
- S&P 500 Consumer Staples
- S&P 500 Packaged Foods & Meats
- S&P Composite 1500 and related style and sector indices [17]
This is why Wednesday’s volume was so elevated:
Index‑tracking funds and closet indexers had to sell K and reallocate into Ares and other constituents by the close, compressing the final merger‑arbitrage spread down to only a few cents.
For investors watching S&P 500 ETFs and mutual funds ahead of the Thursday open, the practical effects are:
- Kellanova disappears from the index baskets.
- Ares, a large alternative‑asset manager, gets forced buying from passive flows, one reason its stock surged in recent sessions. [18]
If you hold broad S&P 500 products, you are indirectly swapping a consumer‑staples snack maker for an alternatives‑focused asset manager, whether you wanted that trade or not.
Fresh developments on December 10, 2025
Several new or updated analyses on December 10 fleshed out the implications of the Mars–Kellanova tie‑up:
- Industry impact: Coverage in food‑sector publications emphasized that the combined Mars–Kellanova snacking business will generate about $36 billion in annual revenue and oversee nine brands each generating over $1 billion, sharpening competition against heavyweights like Mondelēz and PepsiCo. [19]
- EU view: European‑focused outlets reiterated that the European Commission approved the deal unconditionally, despite earlier concerns that a merged Mars–Kellanova might gain unfair bargaining power with retailers. Regulators ultimately concluded that snack consumers are willing to switch brands and retailers, limiting competitive harm. [20]
- Deal timing: Local business media in the U.S. again highlighted that all approvals are now in place and closing is expected on December 11, marking the end of Kellanova’s brief life as a standalone, publicly listed spin‑off from the old Kellogg structure. [21]
Collectively, the December 10 coverage confirms a simple message:
Barring a genuine last‑minute shock, this deal is done in everything but paperwork.
Wall Street’s view: ratings, price targets and fundamentals
With the stock trading effectively on a fixed cash value, traditional “Where can this go?” valuation debates have been replaced by “Will this close?” and “Is there any residual risk premium left?”
Analyst ratings and targets
- MarketScreener shows 15 analysts covering Kellanova with a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of roughly $83.39, essentially identical to the current share price and to the Mars offer. [22]
- Other aggregators, such as StockAnalysis and MarketBeat, similarly describe a Hold‑leaning consensus with 12‑month price targets centered around $83.50, again hugging the deal price. [23]
In normal circumstances, an average price target that close to spot would suggest limited upside.
In a cash buyout that has cleared regulators, it mostly tells you that sell‑side models have been effectively subsumed by the merger terms.
Institutional positioning
A December 10 note from MarketBeat highlighted that Qube Research & Technologies boosted its stake in Kellanova by roughly 31% in Q2, bringing its holdings to about 2.85 million shares, or 0.82% of the company, valued at roughly $227 million at the time. [24]
That kind of systematic, quantitatively oriented fund involvement is typical for late‑stage merger‑arbitrage situations: the remaining spread is small, but so is the perceived risk.
Recent operating performance
Even though fundamentals are now secondary to the merger, they help explain why Mars was willing to pay:
- In its most recent quarter (reported October 30), Kellanova beat consensus EPS and nudged past revenue expectations, posting about $0.94 in EPS versus $0.88 expected on around $3.26 billion in sales. [25]
- The board has maintained a quarterly dividend of $0.58 per share (annualized $2.32), amounting to a yield of roughly 2.8% at pre‑deal prices, with a recent ex‑dividend date of December 1 and a payment date set for December 15. [26]
For shareholders, the dividend is now mostly a footnote on the way to a lump‑sum cash payout.
Macro backdrop: Fed cut and risk appetite into December 11
Outside the snack aisle, the macro environment turned more supportive for risk assets on December 10:
- The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to a 3.50%–3.75% range, signaling a likely pause while projecting only one additional cut in 2026. [27]
- U.S. equity markets rallied sharply after the decision. The S&P 500 climbed about 0.7% to 6,886.68, just shy of a record, while the Dow jumped roughly 1%, according to multiple reports. [28]
For a stock like Kellanova that is tethered to a hard cash bid, broader market swings don’t matter much anymore.
But the risk‑on tone can still influence:
- The valuation of Ares as it joins the S&P 500,
- Appetite for other consumer‑staples names, and
- Overall sentiment toward M&A and private‑equity deals in consumer brands.
What investors should know before the December 11, 2025 open
Going into Thursday’s session, here are the practical considerations for anyone exposed—directly or indirectly—to Kellanova:
1. Don’t expect “normal” trading in Kellanova
With December 10 flagged as the expected final trading day and delisting planned upon closing, Kellanova may not trade at all in regular hours on December 11, or it may trade only briefly in a special state before being halted and removed from exchange systems. [29]
If you still see a ticker or a stale quote in your brokerage account in the morning, treat it as an administrative lag, not as an invitation to day‑trade.
2. Cash in, stock out
If the deal closes as planned:
- Each share of Kellanova converts into $83.50 in cash, less any commissions or fees your broker charges for processing corporate actions. [30]
- The position will eventually disappear from your holdings, replaced by a cash credit once settlement completes.
The exact timing of the cash posting can vary by broker and back‑office processes, so it’s worth checking your broker’s corporate‑actions calendar if liquidity is important to you.
3. Index and ETF reshuffles are already in motion
Most of the heavy lifting for index‑tracking funds happened into the close on December 10:
- Kellanova is being removed from the S&P 500 and a wide slate of S&P indices. [31]
- Ares Management will show up as a new S&P 500 constituent as of the December 11 open, attracting passive inflows. [32]
If you hold ETFs like an S&P 500 tracker, you don’t need to do anything; the reshuffle is handled for you. But it does mean your indirect exposure is shifting from a stable, low‑beta snack company to a more cyclical alternatives manager.
4. Residual risks are small but not zero
With:
- All regulatory approvals secured, [33]
- Huge index‑driven selling already completed, and
- The stock trading within pennies of the cash bid,
the market is effectively pricing very high odds of completion.
The remaining risks—such as a technical snag in closing documentation, unexpected litigation, or operational surprises—are impossible to discount entirely but look remote based on current public information.
5. This is not a typical “buy the dip / chase the breakout” setup
Because Kellanova is moving off the public markets, short‑term traders looking for volatility or a breakout face a very different landscape:
- Upside is capped at the cash offer.
- There is no realistic catalyst for a higher competing bid this late in the game, given how many regulators and stakeholders have already signed off. [34]
At this stage, K shares behave far more like a bond approaching maturity than like a growth or turnaround story.
Bottom line
After the bell on December 10, 2025, Kellanova’s story in public markets is essentially written:
- The stock is trading like a fully priced merger‑arb stub, with the closing mechanics now dominating the narrative. [35]
- Mars’ acquisition has cleared every regulatory hurdle, and the parties expect to close on December 11, after which Kellanova will be delisted and folded into Mars’ enlarged snacking empire. [36]
- Index rebalances have already pushed through, with Ares Management stepping into the S&P 500 spotlight just as Kellanova exits. [37]
For existing shareholders heading into the December 11 open, the main things to monitor are:
- Confirmation of deal closing and delisting timing, and
- The eventual arrival of cash in brokerage accounts.
For everyone else, Kellanova is best understood now as a case study in how a mature, branded‑foods company transitions from public to private ownership—leaving behind an index slot, a tidy cash payout, and a permanently altered snacking landscape.
References
1. www.solactive.com, 2. stockanalysis.com, 3. newsroom.kellanova.com, 4. www.reuters.com, 5. www.solactive.com, 6. stockanalysis.com, 7. stockanalysis.com, 8. stockanalysis.com, 9. www.investing.com, 10. newsroom.kellanova.com, 11. www.solactive.com, 12. newsroom.kellanova.com, 13. newsroom.kellanova.com, 14. newsroom.kellanova.com, 15. www.solactive.com, 16. www.reuters.com, 17. www.marketscreener.com, 18. www.barrons.com, 19. newsroom.kellanova.com, 20. www.reuters.com, 21. njbiz.com, 22. www.marketscreener.com, 23. stockanalysis.com, 24. www.marketbeat.com, 25. www.marketbeat.com, 26. stockanalysis.com, 27. www.reuters.com, 28. apnews.com, 29. www.solactive.com, 30. www.solactive.com, 31. www.marketscreener.com, 32. www.reuters.com, 33. newsroom.kellanova.com, 34. www.foodnavigator.com, 35. stockanalysis.com, 36. newsroom.kellanova.com, 37. www.reuters.com
