Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Wednesday March 23, 2016

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Wednesday March 23, 2016:

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The DC Public Service Commission voted 2-1 on Wednesday to Approve Exelon Corp's (NYSE:

) merger with Pepco Holdings Inc (NYSE:

). That was the final regulatory obstacle for a deal already approved in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia. Pepco closed at $26.93 on Wednesday, up 26.79%. Excelon fell $0.28 to close at $34.72.

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Origin Technologies Corporation announced Tuesday, that it has increased its offer to the Affymetrix Board of Directors (NASDAQ:

) to $17.00 per share in cash. Thermo Fisher had offered Affymetrix stockholders would receive only $14.00 per share in cash. Origin also increased the size of its reverse termination fee to $100 million. Affymetrix closed at $15.11, up 5.15%.

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Richard Branson's Virgin America Inc. (NASDAQ:

) is considering a potential sale of all or part of the company, according to sources as reported by

on Wednesday. The sources say VA hired an adviser after receiving takeover interest. JETS ETF CEO Frank Holmes told

that a Southwest (NYSE:

) buyout in the $40–$50 per share range for Virgin Airlines could be a good fit and a game changer. Virgin America closed at $34.72 on Wednesday, up 13.21%.

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Shares of Medivation (NASDAQ:

) spiked as high as $40.80 on Wednesday on renewed takeover chatter involving Sanofi (NYSE:

). Analysts told

the idea of a potential Medivation takeover is not new and there is nothing fundamental to indicate it would be an attractive target now. Medivation closed at $39.39 on Wednesday, up $0.36.

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Terex Corporation (NYSE:

) said Wednesday, that it has received a revised non-binding proposal from Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co. (OTC:

) to acquire all outstanding shares of Terex for $31.00 per share in cash. The proposal is subject to receipt of U.S. and Chinese regulatory approval and Zoomlion shareholder approval. Terex' Board said it will pursue negotiations with Zoomlion, but it has not changed its recommendation of supporting the proposed Konecranes deal. Terex closed at $23.74 on Wednesday, down 2.78%.