Adds shares in paragraph 3, deal details in paragraphs 2, 6 and 7, background in paragraph 5

Dec 22 (Reuters) - Uniform retail firm Cintas CTAS.O said on Monday it has made another offer, marking its third attempt, to acquire its smaller rival UniFirst UNF.N in a deal valued at $5.2 billion.

The retailer said it has offered to acquire all of UniFirst's outstanding shares for $275 apiece, representing a 61.6% premium to its last close.

Shares of UniFirst surged 38% in premarket trading to $234.87 after the Wall Street Journal first reported the new acquisition offer, while Cintas shares were down about 1%.

UniFirst did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The move comes months after Cintas terminated its second acquisition attempt at the same offer price earlier this year, which was rejected by UniFirst. It marks the latest effort by Cintas since its initial bid in 2022.

While the offer price remains the same, Cintas said it has done extensive work on the regulatory front and is confident of securing approvals needed for the deal.

Cintas has also offered a $350 million reverse termination fee if the transaction fails to win clearance, it added.

(Reporting by Sanskriti Shekhar in Bengaluru ; Editing by Vijay Kishore)

((Sanskriti.Shekhar@thomsonreuters.com))