Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Wednesday May 20, 2015

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Wednesday May 20, 2015:

:

Shares of Time Warner Cable

and Cablevision

surged higher Wednesday, following comments from the CEO of France's Altice, that all U.S. cable companies other than Comcast

were in play. Dexter Goei was speaking following the announcement of Altice's acquisition of SuddenLink. Goeli did declined comment on a

report Tuesday, that Time Warner Cable had been in takeover talks with Altice. Cablevision declined comment and a Time Warner Cable spokesperson was unavailable for comment. Time Warner Cable shares rose more than 5% Wednesday, to close at $166.55. Cablevision shares rose 18% to close at $24.69.

:

Monsanto

stated Wednesday, that it is confident in its ability to address regulatory concerns, as it contemplates a deal to acquire Syngenta

. Monsanto said this could be accomplished by selling Syngenta's seeds and traits assets. A Syngetna spokesperson said the regulatory obstacles are not as simple as portrayed by Monsanto. Syngenta rejected a CHF449 per share bid from Monsanto on May 8. Syngenta shares gained more than 4% Wednesday, closing at $4.68

:

Shares of PartnerRE

spiked higher premarket Wednesday, as the company sent a letter to the Exor

Board saying it is prepared to engage with Exor to determine whether Exor's offer can be improved so that it is compelling, on price and terms. Axis Capital Holdings said on May 17 it wouldn't raise its offer for PartnerRe, believing its proposal of $132 per share in stock, plus a special dividend of $11.50 per share, is superior to the $137.50 all-cash offer from Italy's Exor Spa

, according to sources reported by

. PartnerRE closed Wednesday at $134.31, a gain of $0.14

:

Following some unusual trading activity in shares of Omnicare Inc.

near the close Wednesday,

rerported that CVS Health Corp. was in advanced talks to acquire the provider of pharmacy and related services, according to sources. An agreement could be reached as early as this week. On April 30,

reported Omnicare had received interest from Express Scripts Holding Co

, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.

and McKesson Corp.

, as wells as CVS. Omnicare shares closed Wednesday at $94.63, and traded as high as $103, after-hours. [