Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Wednesday October 9, 2013

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Wednesday October 9, 2013:

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Shares of Men's Wearhouse

surged higher in the pre-market Wednesday on a $48 per share cash bid from rival Jos. A Bank Clothiers

. The total deal would be valued at $2.3 billion. The Men's Wearhouse Board of Directors rejected the offer stating it is "not in the best interests of Men's Wearhouse or its shareholders." Men's Wearhouse closed at $45.03 Wednesday, a gain of 27%.

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Shares of BlackBerry

spiked higher Wednesday afternoon on comments from CEO Mark Wiseman of Canadian Pension that they would determine whether to participate in a bid for the troubled phone maker. Acording to

, Wiseman did not say if he was conisdering joining the Fairfax bid. Prem Watsa's Fairfax Capital entered into a Letter of Intent on September 23 to acquire BlackBerry at $9.00 per share and may have trouble completing the deal without additional investors. A spokesperson for BlackBerry was not available for comment. BlackBerry closed at $8.11 Wednesday, a gain of $0.13.

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Chinese laptop maker Lenovo

is in talks to acquire Taiwan smartphone make HTC

, according to

. Reportedly, the two companies have been talking since August and will announce the results of the negotiations in H1 2014 or later. Spokespersons for the companies were not available for comment on the rumor.

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Shsres of Cliffs Natural Resources

spiked higher Wednesday on renewed takeover chatter. China Resources was rumored in May to be bidding for Cliffs. A spokesperson for Cliffs was not available for comment. Cliffs Natural Resources closed at $20.09 Wednesday, a loss of 1.5%.

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SolarCity Corp.

and Zep Solar announced Wednesday that they have agreed that SolarCity will acquire Zep Solar for approximately $158 million in shares of SolarCity common stock. The transaction is expected to close in December. SolarCity closed at $37.13 Wednesday, a loss of more than 4.5%.