Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Monday July 25, 2016

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

Verizon to Acquire Yahoo's Operating Business for $4.83B

The Deal:
Verizon Communications Inc. VZ and Yahoo! Inc. YHOO announced Monday, following months of speculation, that they have agreed that Verizon will acquire Yahoo's operating business for approximately $4.83 billion in cash. The deal does not include Yahoo's cash, shares in Alibaba Group Holdings, shares in Yahoo Japan, convertible notes, certain minority investments, and Yahoo's non-core patents. The deal is expected to close in Q1 of 2017.

Yahoo closed at $38.32 on Monday, down 2.69%.

AMC Raises Offer for Carmike Cinemas to $33.06/Share in Cash, Stock

The Deal:
Carmike Cinemas, Inc. CKEC announced Monday, an amended and restated merger agreement with AMC Theatres AMC under which AMC will acquire all outstanding shares of Carmike for either $33.06 in cash or 1.0819 shares of AMC's Class A common stock, for a total transaction value of $1.2 billion. AMC had previously offered $1.1 billion in March.

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2016.

E*TRADE Announces Acquisition of OptionsHouse for $725M Cash

The Deal:
E*TRADE Financial Corporation ETFC announced Monday, it has to acquire the parent company of OptionsHouse, Aperture New Holdings, Inc., for $725 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close in Q4 of 2016.

E*TRADE closed Monday at $24.999, down 3.18%.

Great American Insurance Company to Acquire National Interstate Corporation for $32/Share in Cash; $0.50 Special Dividend

The Deal:
National Interstate Corporation NATL announced Monday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the approximately 49% of National Interstate's issued and outstanding common shares that it does not presently own for $32 per share in cash. Also, National Interstate will pay a special dividend of $0.50 per common share upon the closing of the merger. The proposed merger is expected to close in Q4 of 2016.

National Interstate Corporation closed Monday at $32.30, up 4.40%.

SunOpta Said to Draw Interest from PE Firms

The Rumor:
Canada's SunOpta Inc STKL is said be under the watchful eye of hedge fund West Face Capital, pressing for the company to explore a sale of all or part of the company, according to sources as reported by Reuters on Monday. West Face Capital is also potentially seeking board or management changes, the sources said. Hedge fund Tourbillon Capital Partners, SunOpta's largest shareholder, announced on May 27, it had sent a letter to the board and CEO of SunOpta. SunOpta and West Face declined to comment on the report.

SunOpta closed Monday at $5.24, up $0.15.