Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Tuesday December 30, 2014

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Tuesday December 30, 2014:

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Handy & Harman Ltd.

announced Tuesday that it has sent a letter to JPS Industries, Inc.

offering to acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of JPS not already owned by HNH or HNH's parent, Steel Partners Holdings L.P. for $10.00 per share in cash. HNH noted in the letter that JPS has not traded at or above the proposed $10.00 per share price since July 1998. The JPS Special Committee had asked for $12.50 per share as a starting point. Handy & Harman shares closed Tuesday at $46.21, up $1.69. JPS Industries closed up 8% at $7.46.

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ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES (Bermuda) LTD.

announced Tuesday, that the required greater than 50% of shareholders of both ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES INC. and ThaiLin Semiconductor Corp. have voted to approve the proposed merger of the two ChipMOS' subsidiaries. Under the terms and conditions of the merger agreement, ThaiLin's shareholders will be offered a combination of NT$12.5 in cash and 0.311 of one ChipMOS Taiwan share in exchange for each ThaiLin common share held. On consummation of the proposed Merger, ThaiLin will be merged with ChipMOS Taiwan. ChipMOS Taiwan will continue as the surviving merged entity and is expected to remain listed on the TWSE trading under its current stock ticker "8150". ChipMOS shares closed Tuesday at $23.31, up $0.22.

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Fosun International Limited

and Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc.

, announced Tuesday, that they have agreed that Fosun will acquire Meadowbrook for $8.65 per share in cash, for a total transaction value of approximately $433 million. The deal is expected to close in H2 of 2015, Meadowbrook Insurance Group shares closed Tuesday at $7.13, and rose another $0.32 after-hours.

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First NBC Bank Holding Company (NBCB), the holding company for First NBC Bank, and State Investors Bancorp, Inc.

, the holding company of State-Investors Bank, announced Tuesday a definitive agreement for First NBC to acquire State Investors for $21.25 in cash for each share of State Investors stock owned by them at the effective time of the merger. The merger is expected to close in Q2 of 2015, State Investors Bancorp shares closed Tuesday at $15.36, and traded at $19.07 after-hours.