Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Wednesday May 25, 2016

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Wednesday May 25, 2016:

:

Yadkin Financial Corp.

is said to be exploring a sale, according to sources as reported by

on Wednesday. The sources said Yadkin has hired Sandler O'Neill & Partners to solicit offers. Spokespersons for Yadkin and Sandler O-Neill declined to comment on the rumor. Yadkin rose 2.89% Wednesday to close at $27.10.

:

Celgene Corp.

and Gilead Sciences Inc.

are considering bids for Medivation Inc.

, according to sources as reported by

on Wednesday. Sanofi

on Wednesday, said it is seeking to remove Medivation's entire board and replace it with candidates who are "willing to fully and fairly evaluate all of Medivation's strategic options, including Sanofi's acquisition offer." Barron's meanwhile, said Amgen

is the most likely to make a deal for the developer of Xtandi. Medivation disclosed Wednesday, that it advised its shareholders to reject Sanofi's attempt to replace its entire board of directors with hand-picked nominees through a proposed consent solicitation. Medivation closed at $61.48 on Wednesday, down $0.43.

:

Jefferies on Wednesday, upgraded Monsanto

to a buy from a hold and raised the price target to $132 from $95. Analyst Laurence Alexander said a greater than $130 per share offer by Bayer

is highly likely. CNBC's David Faber said talks between the two companies would begin soon and that a deal could be done around $126 per share. Bayer investor Royal London Asset Management said a deal With Monsanto makes sense strategically at $130 to $135 per share, but not at $150. Monsanto closed at $111.68 on Wednesday, up 2.18%.

:

New York REIT, Inc.

announced, Wednesday, that it has entered into a definitive agreement with The JBG Companies and certain of its private funds to contribute substantially all of their properties to NYRT resulting in a REIT with a best-in-class management team and a premier property portfolio in New York City and the Washington, D.C. area. Upon completion of the transaction, NYRT will acquire substantially all of the properties and the management business of JBG. The combined company will be renamed JBG Realty Trust, with an estimated $8.4 billion enterprise value REIT. New York Reit closed at $9.79 on Wednesday, up $0.023.