Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Friday March 15, 2013

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Friday March 15, 2013:

:

Both IBM

and EMC

are in talks to acquire web hosting company SoftLayer, according to a report from

. The deal could be worth over $2 billion, according to sources, which indicated SoftLayer had hire Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse as advisors. SoftLayer is a privately-held company based out of Dallas, TX.

:

Cablevision Systems Corporation

could be $20 per share in a takeover, according to a note from Citigroup. Time Warner Cable

and Charter Communications

are the most likely buyers according to the note. Charter and Cablevision announced on February 7 that they had entered into an agreement under which Charter would acquire Cablevision's Bresnan Broadband Holdings for $1.625 billion in cash. Cablevision closed at $14.08 Friday, a gain of 2.5% on twice average volume.

:

New Oriental Education

may receive a "going private" bid, according to a note from 86 Research. On December 17, 2012, there was chatter of a possible LBO at $30 per share. A spokesperson for New Oriental Education was not available for comment. New Oriental Education closed at $16.02 Friday, a gain of 8% on twice average volume.

:

Anheuser-Busch Inbev

and the U.S. DOJ requested Friday, a postponement until April 9 of the government's antitrust lawsuit to block its purchase of Grupo Modelo. The two sides cited making substantial progress towards a potential settlement of the case, which could clear the way for a sale of Modelo to Constellation Brands

. Anheuser-Busch Inbev and Constellation Brands both issued statements Friday on the progress of the discussions. Constellation Brands closed at $45.75 Friday, a gain of 2% on average volume, while Anheuser-Busch InBev closed at $95.43, a loss of $0.83 on lower than average volume.