Wall Street's M&A Chatter From February 17-20

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Friday, February 17, through Monday, February 20, 2017.

Hearing Amazon Looking to Acquire Capital One

The Rumor:

Shares of Capital One Financial CorpCOF soared late Friday, as traders circulated a Thursday article from Banking Technology mentioning a rumored Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN acquisition of one of the largest marketers of credit cards.

Capital One is currently one of the largest customers of Amazon’s AWS cloud.

Capital One closed Friday at $91.81, up 1.44 percent.

Softbank Preparing to Approach Deutsche Telekom to Discuss Merger Of T-Mobile And Sprint

The Rumor:

Japan's SoftBank SFTBY will approach Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile US Inc TMUS regarding a merger with Sprint Corp S, according to sources as reported by Reuters on Friday. Softbank is said to be willing to give up control of Sprint in order to secure a deal, the sources said.

Under FCC rules, Softbank isn't permitted to approach Deutsche Telekom until the current airwave auction process ends in April. Discussions will begin thereafter.

T-Mobile closed at $63.92 on Friday, up 5.46 percent. Sprint closed at $9.30 on Friday, up 3.33 percent.

Unilever Rejects Kraft Heinz Bid; KHC Amicably Withdraws Bid

The Rejection/Withdrawal:

Unilever plc (ADR) UL announced it rejected an offer of $50 per share in cash and stock from Kraft Heinz Co KHC. Unilever shareholders would receive $30.23 in cash, plus 0.222 Kraft Heinz shares per existing Unilever share.

Unilever said the Kraft offer "fundamentally undervalues Unilever" and indicated the proposal has no strategic or financial merit. Unilever said there is no basis for further discussions.

On Sunday, Unilever and Kraft Heinz announced Kraft Heinz has amicably agreed to withdraw its proposal for a combination of the companies.

Unilever rose 15.29% Friday to close at $48.79.

MacDonald Dettwiler In Talks To Buy Digital Globe According To Dow Jones Sources

The Rumor:

MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates is in advanced talks to acquire DigitalGlobe Inc DGI, according to sources as reported by the Wall Street Journal on Friday. Sources say potential deal could be worth between $2 billion and $3 billion.

DigitalGlobe closed at $35.00 on Friday, up 18.24 percent.

EQT Infrastructure to Acquire Lumos Networks for $18.00/Share in Cash

The Deal:

Lumos Networks Corp LMOS announced Monday it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by the EQT Infrastructure investment strategy, for $18.00 per share, for an enterprise value of approximately $950 million. The acquisition is expected to be completed in Q3 of 2017.

Lumos Networks closed at $15.23 on Friday, up $0.09.

Restaurant Brands Deal to Acquire Popeyes Could be Announced this Week

The Rumor:

Restaurant Brands International Inc QSR owner of Burger King and Tim Hortons, is said to be close to a deal to acquire Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc. PLKI, according to sources as reported by Reuters said on Monday. The deal, said to value the fried chicken chain at more than $7 billion, could be announced this week.

The New York Post reported on February 13 that Restaurant Brands had walked away from a deal for Popeyes, citing the high share price.

Popeyes closed at $66.12 on Friday, down $0.26.