Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Wednesday March 4, 2015

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Wednesday March 4, 2015:

:

Shares of ANN INC.

surged higher Wednesday, on a report from

that PE firms Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital are competing to acquire the woman's retailer. The report says a deal is not a certainty due to a lack of available debt for buyouts of apparel retailers. Spokespersons for Ann, Bain and Golden Gate declined comment. Ann, Inc. shares gained more than 6% Wednesday, closing at $37.40.

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Shares of Avago Technologies Limited

rose Wednesday on a report from

, that the Singapore-based semiconductor company had attempted to acquire Freescale Semiconductor, Ltd.

, but lost out to NXP Semiconductors NV

, according to sources. The report said that Avago was still in the market for a large deal. Call options in several related companies were active following the report, including Atmel Corporation

and Linear Technology Corporation

. A spokesperson for Avago was not immediately available for comment. Avago Technologies shares closed Wednesday at $129.40, a gain of almost 1%.

:

Shares of Pharmacyclics Inc.

spiked as high as $248.49 after-hours Wednesday, on a report from

, that Johnson & Johnson

could acquire its Imbruvica partner.

, which first reported on February 25 that Pharmacyclics was considering a sale,

that a deal could be announced as early as Thursday. Spokespersons for J&J and Pharmacyclics declined comment on the report. Pharmacyclics closed the regular session Wednesday at $230.48, up $13.71.

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Shares of TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. (TRW) NYSE spiked higher Wednesday, on a report from

, that EU antitrust regulators are about to approve ZF Friedrichshafen's 13.5 billion takeover of the Livonia, Michigan company. This is a conditional phase 1 approval, according to a source. TRW closed Wednesday $104.50, up $0.27.

:

Simon Property Group Inc.

has approached The Macerich Company

in recent weeks, seeking a potential merger, according to sources as reported by the

. That follows another approach in late 2014. Simon disclosed a 3.6% stake in Macerich in November. Simon hasn't made a formal offer for Macerich TRW closed Wednesday $104.50, up $0.27.