Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Monday October 20, 2014

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Monday October 20, 2014: BlackBerry Shares Rise on Report of Potential Lenovo Bid The Rumor:
Share of BlackBerry Limited BBRY rose Monday, following a report from Benzinga in Saturday, that China's Lenovo Group Limited LNVGY could make an offer to acquire Canadian mobile communications company, as early as this week. A source familiar with the matter said said Lenovo's could offer $15.00 per share initially, with a deal at around $18.00 per share. Neither BlackBerry nor Lenovo issued an official response to the report, though there were media reports of insiders at Lenovo denying an interest in acquiring BlackBerry. Spokespersons for both companies declined comment to Benzinga. A spokesperson for Canada's Federal Minister of Industry, told Benzinga that he was not aware of an offer made by Lenovo for BlackBerry and declined comment further regarding that specific rumor. He did say the Canada was open to foreign investment. BlackBerry closed Monday at $10.30, a gain of 8.5%. GLOBALFOUNDRIES to Acquire IBM's Microelectronics Business The Deal:
IBM IBM announced an agreement Monday, under which GLOBALFOUNDRIES will acquire IBM's Microelectronics OEM semiconductor business and manufacturing operations. The loss from discontinued operations in the third quarter includes a non-recurring pre-tax charge of $4.7 billion, or $3.3 billion, net of tax. The charge includes an impairment to reflect fair value less estimated costs to sell the Microelectronics business assets, which the company has classified as held for sale at September 30, 2014. The charge also includes other estimated costs related to the transaction, including cash consideration expected to be transferred to GLOBALFOUNDRIES of approximately $1.5 billion. The deal is expected to close in 2015. IBM closed Monday at $169.10, a loss of 11%. Hearing Deal Reporter Says Altera Preparing for Sale The Rumor:
Shares of Altera ALTR surged higher Monday, on a report from Deal Reporter that the company was preparing for a sale. There has been unusual option activity over the past month. Altera shares rose 1.5% Monday, to close at $33.03. AbbVie, Shire Terminate Merger Agreement The Termination:
AbbVie Inc. ABBV and Shire plc SHPG have agreed to terminate their proposed merger agreement. AbbVie's Board withdrew support for the proposed transaction, based upon its assessment of the September 22, 2014 notice issued by the U.S. Treasury Department which re-interpreted current tax regulations in a manner that made its acquisition of Shire less attractive. AbbVie has agreed to pay Shire a breakup fee of approximately $1.635 billion. AbbVie shares closed at $54.41 Monday, and traded at $55.25 after-hours. Shares of Shire closed at $184.59 Monday, trading as low as $172 after-hours. Actavis, Perrigo, Sanofi Reportedly Bidding for Omega Pharm The Rumor:
Actavis plc ACT, Perrigo Company Public Limited Company PRGO and Sanofi SNY, are among the companies bidding for Omega Pharma, according to sources, cited by Bloomberg. The sources say a deal for Omega could bring $5.1 billion. Actavis shares closed at $226.67 Monday, and traded at $230.00 after-hours. Perrigo shares closed at $148.47 and rose another 1% after-hours on Monday.