Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Tuesday October 9, 2012

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Tuesday October 9, 2012:

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Matrixx Initiatives announced Monday that it has increased its offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of ProPhase Labs

by 14.3% to $1.60 per share. The revised offer represents a premium of 51.7% over the 30-day average closing price of ProPhase's stock and a 53.7% premium to ProPhase's average closing price over the 12 months preceding September 6, 2012 (the day ProPhase's founder and former Chairman, Guy J. Quigley, filed a Schedule 13D announcing Matrixx's purchase of a three-year option to acquire 1.45 million shares of ProPhase common stock). Matrixx had initially proposed an all-cash acquisition of ProPhase for $1.40 per share on May 29, 2012. ProPhase Labs closed at $1.50 Tuesday, a gain of 11.11% on 4 times average volume.

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Harbinger Group

announced Tuesday that Spectrum Brands Holdings

has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Hardware & Home Improvement Group of Stanley Black & Decker

for $1.4 billion in cash. Spectrum Brands closed at $46.04 Tuesday, a gain of 11.86% on 6 times average volume.