Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Tuesday March 19, 2013

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Tuesday March 19, 2013:

:

Charter Communications

and Liberty Media

confirmed Tuesday that Liberty has entered into a definitive agreement with investment funds managed by, or affiliated with, Apollo Management, Oaktree Capital Management and Crestview Partners to acquire approximately 26.9 million shares and approximately 1.1 million warrants in Charter Communications, Inc. for approximately $2.617 billion, which represents an approximate 27.3% beneficial ownership in Charter and a price per share of $95.50. Liberty expects to fund the purchase with a combination of cash on hand and new loan arrangements. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of the second quarter of 2013. Upon closing, funds managed by Crestview and Oaktree will hold approximately 7.4% and 2.2%, respectively, of Charter's common shares. Charter Communications closed at $100.38 Tuesday, a gain of over 2% on 4 times average volume.

:

CBRE Group

announced Tuesday the acquisition of IMPACT-CORTI a.s., a firm specializing in property management in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. IMPACT-CORTI has six million sq ft under management and annual revenue of approximately $10 million. CBRE Group closed at $24.46 Tuesday, a loss of almost 3% on average volume.

:

Life Technologies

was the subject of renewed takeover chatter on Tuesday.

reported that Roche

has hired bankers to handle a bid, while KKR

is exploring a joint bid with Hellman & Friedman. Thermo Fisher

, GE

and Danaher

have been previously mentioned as potential buyers. Spokespersons for Life Technologies and Roche declined comment. Life Technologies closed at $63.58 Tuesday, a gain of 1% on 1.5 times average volume.