Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Thursday May 15, 2014

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Thursday May 15, 2014:

:

Kindred Healthcare

announced Thursday, a proposal to acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Gentiva Health Services

for $7.00 per share in cash and $7.00 in shares of Kindred common stock. Kindred also offered to increase its offer to 100% cash if the Gentiva Board requests it. After the market close, the Gentiva Board, announced it was rejecting the proposal, indicating that the offer "significantly undervalues Gentiva and its attractive prospects for growth and value creation." Gentiva announced it has retained Greenberg Traurig, LLP as its legal advisor and Barclays Capital and Edge Healthcare Partners LLC as financial advisors. Gentiva shares closed Thursday at $13.33, a gain of 62%. Kindred Healthcare shares gained 11% to close at $24.32.

:

Shares of Raxspace Hosting

spiked higher late Thursday on a report from

that the company had hired Morgan Stanley to evaluate strategic alternatives. Raxspace has been the topic of frequent takeover chatter, with IBM

often being mentioned as a potential buyer. The company did confirm in an 8-K filing, after the market close, that they had been approached by "multiple parties who have expressed interest in exploring a strategic relationship with Rackspace, ranging from partnership to acquisition." The company confirmed hiring Morgan Stanley to evaluate proposals and to "explore other alternatives which could advance Rackspace's long-term strategy." Rackspace Hosting closed Thursday at $30.68, a gain of 7%, and traded as high as $33.43 after-hours.

:

Sphere 3D Corporation

and Overland Storage

announced Wednesday that both companies' Boards of Directors have unanimously approved a merger. The name of the combined company will be Sphere 3D. Under the terms of the agreement, each outstanding Overland common share will be exchanged for 0.510594 common shares of Sphere 3D, subject to certain potential adjustments as set forth in the agreement. At the completion of the transaction, current Overland shareholders will own approximately 28.8% of Sphere 3D. The deal has an implied value of approximately $81.13 million or approximately $4.43 per Overland share. Overland shares closed Thursday at $2.99, and gained 31% after-hours.