Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Tuesday September 23, 2014

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Tuesday September 23, 2014:

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Shares of Vodafone Group Public Limited Company

Spiked higher Tuesday, on a

that Vodafone and AT&T

have possibly held discussions regarding an acquisition, merger or partnership, in deal valued at around $175 billion. AT&T's acquisition of Vodafone would reportedly take place by Q1 of 2015, though there have been no formal discussions. Such a deal would require divestiture of certain assets to satisfy regulatory concerns.

reported last November that an AT&T acquisition of Vodafone could happen in 2014. Vodafone shares closed Tuesday at $32.61, a loss of $0.21.

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CF Industries Holdings, Inc.

confirmed Tuesday that it is in preliminary discussions with Yara International ASA

, regarding a potential deal for a merger of equals. CF says there can be no assurances the will result in a deal. CF Industries shares closed Tuesday at $269.37, a gain of more than 5%.

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Shares of Actavis plc

spiked sharply higher Tuesday, on a

, that the company had been approached by Pfizer

regarding a potential deal. Sources say the companies are not in formal talks and Pfizer has not made an offer. Pfizer ended its attempt to acquire AstraZeneca Plc

in May, in a deal that would have been valued at $114 billion. Sources report Pfizer is still looking for ways to lower its tax rate. Actavis shares closed Tuesday at $240.85, a gain of more than 2%.

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Starbucks Corporation

announced Tuesday, that it will acquire the remaining 60.5% share of Starbucks Coffee Japan that it does not already own, through a two-step tender offer process. Starbucks Japan is a joint venture between Starbucks and Sazaby League, operator of Starbucks retail stores in Japan. The first step in the two-step tender offer process begins with Sazaby tendering its shares, beginning on September 26th. The purchase price for Sazaby's 39.5% stake is approximately $505.0 million. The second step is for the remaining 21% ownership interest held by public shareholders and option holders of Starbucks Japan's common stock. The tender offer purchase price for this second step is approximately $408.5 million. The transactions are expected to be fully completed during H1 of calendar year 2015. Starbucks closed Tuesday at $73.96, a loss of $0.64.

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Pershing Square's Bill Ackman sent a letter to the Board of Directors of Allergan

on Tuesday, regarding published reports that the company is in talks to acquire Salix Pharmaceuticals

. Ackman stated: "We have read published reports that you are negotiating a substantial highly leveraged acquisition that would not require shareholder approval in an attempt to preclude a transaction with Valeant

." Ackman said the action contradicts Allergan statements that the company's Board of Directors supports the right of shareholders to vote on the proposal offered by Valeant at the appropriate time. He further stated that such a transaction was a breach of commitment to shareholders, was not lawful, and would result in a lawsuit. Sources says Allergan is in talks to acquire Salix in an all-cash deal worth more than $10 billion. Salix has already agreed to a merger with Cosmo Pharmaceuticals. Allergan has been fighting off a hostile takeover by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc.

, led by Ackman. Allergan closed Tuesday at $169.18, a gain of almost 2%. Salix Pharmaceuticals gained almost 6% to close at $169.17.at $1