Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Thursday May 5, 2016

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Thursday May 5, 2016:

:

Amgen Inc.

is considering joining a growing number of potential buyers for Medivation Inc.

, according to sources as reported by

on Thursday. France's Sanofi's

$52.50 per share offer was rejected by Medivation and in a letter on Thursday, Sanofi said it may take the offer directly to shareholders and remove members of the board if Sanofi won't engage in negotiations. AstraZeneca Plc (NYSE AZN), Novartis AG

and Pfizer Inc.

have been reported to be considering offers as well. Amgen declined comment on the report. Medivation closed at $59.22 on Thursday, and traded around $60 after-hours, following the company's Q1 earnings report.

:

A majority of the five-member U.S. Federal Communications Commission has voted to approve Charter Communications Inc

acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc

and Bright House networks, which would create the second-largest U.S. broadband provider and third-largest video provider, two sources briefed on the matter said Thursday. TIme Warner Cable closed at $25.92 on Thursday, down 3.5%. Charter Communications closed at $67.46 down 2.37%

:

Vonage Holdings Corp.

announced Thursday, a deal to acquire privately-held Nexmo, Inc. for $230 million in cash and stock, plus an additional earn-out opportunity of up to $20 million subject to Nexmo hitting some performance targets. $195 million would be paid at close, including $159 million in cash and up $36 million in stock. Vonage closed at $4.11 on Thursday, down 16%.

:

Energy Transfer Equity LP

CEO Kelcy Warren said Thursday the planned acquisition of Williams Cos Inc

cannot be completed due to tax issues. During a conference call, Warren said "Absent a substantial restructuring of this transaction, which Energy Transfer has been very willing and actually desiring to do, absent that, we don't have a deal."

reported on Monday, that ETE was trying to renegotiate its $20 billion deal for Williams Energy Transfer Equity closed at $13.07 on Thursday, up 7%. Williams Cos closed at $20.57, up almost 7%.