Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Thursday April 23, 2015

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Thursday April 23, 2015: Goldman Sachs Asset Management Enters into Agreement with Pacific Life Insurance Company to Acquire Pacific Global Advisors Solutions Business The Deal:
Goldman Sachs Asset Management GS announced Thursday, it has entered into an agreement with Pacific Life Insurance Company to acquire Pacific Global Advisors solutions business. GSAM expects to close the deal by mid-2015. Goldman Sachs shares rose $0.99 Thursday, closing at $199.31. Hearing Oracle May Bid for Salesforce The Rumor:
Shares of Salesforce.com, Inc. CRM spiked higher Thursday, on unconfirmed market chatter it may get a takeover offer from Oracle Corporation ORCL. Evercore ISI's Kirk Materne commented to Benzinga that an Oracle acquisition of Salesforce "would be complicated" and "seriously doubtful." Wedbush analyst Steve Koening said Salesforce would be a pricey acquisition for Oracle, which has been cautious with M&A activity. Salesforce.com and Oracle declined comment on the rumor. Salesforce.com shares rose $0.76 Thursday, closing at $68.47, while Oracle shares lost $0.16 to close at $43.39. Staples Acquires Makr; Terms Not Disclosed The Deal:
Staples SPLS announced Thursday, it has completed the acquisition of design and print app Makr, and its parent company Happy. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Staples shares rose 1.38% Thursday, closing at $16.19. BP to Sell Stake in Central Area Transmission System to Antin Infrastructure Partners for $486M The Deal:
BP BP announced Thursday, it has agreed to sell its equity in the Central Area Transmission System business in the UK North Sea to Antin Infrastructure Partners for $486 million. BP aims to complete the sale and transfer of operatorship prior to the end of 2015. BP shares rose $0.36 Thursday, closing at $43.60. Comcast Planning to Pull Out of Deal With Time Warner Cable The Rumor:
Comcast is planning to drop its bid for Time Warner Cable, according to sources reported by Bloomberg. An official announcement could be made on Friday. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, that the FCC was leaning toward a hearing on the proposed merger and that process could take months. The $45.2 billion all-stock Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger was announced on February 13, 2014. CNBC reported after the close that top Comcast executives were participating in a call regarding the Time Warner Cable deal. Comcast shares rose $0.47 Thursday, closing at $59.23. Time Warner Cable shares closed at $148.76 on Thursday, but traded at $151 after-hours.