Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Thursday March 17, 2016

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Thursday March 17, 2016: Blackstone Appears to be Leading Contender to Acquire Mphasis from Hewlett Packard Enterprise for More than $1B The Rumor:
Blackstone BX is seen to have an edge over other potential buyers to acquire IT services company Mphasis from Hewlett Packard Enterprise HPE, according to sources as reported by India's Economic Times on Thursday. The deal that could be worth more than $1 billion, the sources said. Blackstone, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Mphasis declined comment on the report. Blackstone closed at $28.18 on Thursday, up 1.5%. Acacia Research Board Rejects Non-Binding Proposal from ARC The Rejection:
The Board of Directors of Acacia Research Corporation ACTG announced Thursday, that it rejected an unsolicited, conditional and non-binding proposal from ARC Acquisition Company, LLC to acquire all outstanding shares of the company's common stock for $3.72 per share in cash, subject to a number of conditions. Acacia's Board did not feel there was credible evidence that ARC could secure financing for such a proposal.and said at this time, the company is not for sale. Acacia Research closed at $3.80 on Thursday up 2.15%. Google Seeks Buyer for Boston Dynamics The Rumor:
Alphabet Inc. GOOGL has put Boston Dynamics up for sale, according to sources as reported by Bloomberg on Thursday. The Robotics company was acquired by Google in late 2013. Potential buyers include the Toyota Research Institute TM and Amazon.com Inc. AMZN Google and Toyota declined to comment, and Amazon didn't respond to requests for comment. Google closed at $758.48 on Thursday, up $1.12. TransCanada to Acquire Columbia Pipeline for $25.50/Share The Deal:
TransCanada Corporation TRP announced Thursday, it has agreed to acquire Columbia Pipeline Group, Inc. CPGX for $25.50 per share in cash, for an aggregate transaction value of approximately $13 billion including the assumption of approximately $2.8 billion of debt. The deal is expected to close in H2 of 2016. Columbia Pipeline closed at $23.51 on Thursday up 2.22%.