Wall Street's M&A Chatter From December 11: Canadian Solar, NXP Semiconductor, Comcast-Fox, Apple -Shazam

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Monday December 11, 2017:

Canadian Solar Receives Non-Binding 'Go Private' Offer of $18.47/Share in Cash

The Going Private Offer

Canadian Solar Inc. CSIQ announced its Board of Directors has received a preliminary, non-binding proposal letter dated Dec. 9 from its Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Shawn (Xiaohua) Qu to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of the Company not already beneficially owned by Dr. Qu and his wife, Ms. Hanbing Zhang, in a "going-private" transaction for $18.47 per share in cash. Canadian Solar's Board has formed a special committee of independent and disinterested directors to consider the proposal.

Canadian Solar closed Monday at $17.79, up 54 cents.

Elliott Says NXP Semiconductor Worth $135/Share

The Activist Letter

Elliott Advisors Limited, which advises funds that collectively hold a 6 percent stake in NXP Semiconductors NXPI, released a letter to shareholders, along with a presentation supporting its view that it believes NXP is worth $135 per share on an intrinsic standalone basis, versus the $110 offered by QUALCOMM Inc QCOM. Elliott said "Qualcomm's offer was highly opportunistic – as a result of certain identifiable temporary circumstances, NXP's stock price was depressed in 2016 and Qualcomm's $110 per share offer took advantage of those anomalies."

Elliott said it has retained UBS Investment Bank as an advisor to perform a valuation report and will share that report with shareholders shortly.

Qualcomm responded to Elliott stating "Elliott’s value assertion for NXP is unsupportable and is clearly nothing more than an attempt to advance its own self-serving agenda. We remain fully committed to closing the acquisition of NXP and believe that the agreed-upon price of $110 is full and fair.”

NXP Semiconductor closed at $115.84, up 55 cents.

Apple Confirms Acquisition of Shazam

The Deal

Apple Inc. AAPL confirmed an agreement to acquire music app Shazam Entertainment Ltd. The purchase price was not disclosed, but TechCrunch reported the price to be as much as $400 million, which would be well below a recent $1 billion valuation.

Regulatory approval is required.

Apple closed at $172.67, up $3.30.

Comcast Drops Pursuit of Fox Assets

The Deal

Comcast Corp CMCSA said it would not pursue acquisition of the assets of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc FOXA, according to a report from Reuters. Comcast, in a statement said the company "never got the level of engagement needed to make a definitive offer."

Walt Disney Co DIS is now said to be only buyer for the Fox assets and talks are continuing. Sources said a deal could be reached this month.

Fox and Disney did not immediately provide comment on the report.

Twenty-First Century Fox closed at $33.66.