Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Thursday, October 20, 2016

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Thursday, October 20, 2016:

Walgreens, Rite Aid Extend of Merger Deal End Date to January 27, 2017

The Merger:
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA) and Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) announced Thursday that they agreed to extend the end date of their merger agreement from October 27, 2016 to January 27, 2017, with the transaction expected to close in early calendar 2017. Walgreen CEO Stefano Pessina said the company was confident about the deal.

On Wednesday, the NY Post reported that Kroger (NYSE: KR) was close to pulling out of a deal to acquire 650 Walgreens stores that need to be disposed of prior to gaining regulatory approval for Walgreens merger with Rite Aid.

Walgreen Boots closed at $81.02 on Thursday, up 4.98%.

Citi Says Verizon Could Buy DISH

The Rumor:
Shares of DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH) rose to a high of $59.57 Thursday, as Citigroup said the company could be a takeover target for Verizon (NYSE: VZ). AT&T (NYSE: T) announced the acquisition of DISH rival DirectTV in May 2014.

DISH closed at $59.18 on Thursday, up 3.03%.

Wipro Acquires Appirio for $500M

The Deal:
Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT) announced Thursday, that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire global cloud services company Appirio for $500 million. The acquisition is expected to close in calendar Q4 2016.

Wipro closed Thursday at $9.92, down $0.14.

Verizon CFO Says has Not Yet Reached a Final Decision on How to Proceed With Yahoo Deal

The CFO Comment:
Verizon (NYSE: VZ) CFO Fran Shammo said on the company's conference call Thursday, that the company has not reached a final decision on how to proceed with Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO). Shammo said the company has to assume that the the hack of 500 million users will have a material impact.

Reports surfaced last week that Verizon was attempting to renegotiate the terms of the deal with Verizon.

Yahoo closed Thursday at $42.38, down $0.35.

GE Said to be in Talks to Acquire Varian Medical

The Rumor:
Shares of Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) spiked to a high of $106.07 on Thursday, in response to a report from Intereconomia that General Electric (NYSE: GE) was negotiating a purchase of the maker of the EDGE Radiosurgery Suite and the ProBeam Proton Therapy System. The report said the deal could be around $128 per share.

A Varian spokesperson declined comment to Benzinga on the report, while a GE spokesperson was said to downplay the rumor.

Varian Medical closed Thursday at $100.29, up 3.47%.

Qualcomm Said to be inn Final Stage Of Deal to Acquire NXP Semiconductors

The Rumor:
Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) is said to be in the final stages of negotiations to acquire NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI), according to sources as reported by Bloomberg on Thursday. The sources say a deal could be announced as early as next week, at a price of $110 to $120 per share. Both companies declined comment on the report.

NXP Semiconductors closed Thursday at $104.49, up 3.42%.

AT&T and Time Warner Said to have Met to Discuss Business Strategies Including Potential Merger

The Rumor:
Shares of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) spiked as high as $86.75 Thursday, on a report from Bloomberg that AT&T (NYSE: T) has met with Time Warner executives in recent weeks to discuss a potential deal and other strategies. Sources say the talks are in the early stages. The NY Post reported on October 16 that AT&T has considered a bid for Time Warner in order to increase its presence in the music industry.

A Time Warner spokesperson told Benzinga "We're not commenting" on AT&T takeover rumors.

Time Warner closed Thursday at $82.99, up 4.73%.

NXPINXP Semiconductors NV

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