Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Wednesday May 23, 2012

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Wednesday May 23, 2012:

Monsanto Company to Purchase Precision Planting

The Deal:
Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) announced Wednesday it reached an agreement to purchase planting technology developer Precision Planting, Inc., a proven leader in improving yields through on-farm planting performance.

The Precision Planting operations will remain in Tremont and all Precision employees will be offered their continued jobs in Tremont. Monsanto agreed to pay $210 million for the business, plus a performance-based payment of up to $40 million.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close this summer. Other terms were not disclosed.

Monsanto closed at $71.82 on Wednesday, a gain of 0.73% on lower than average volume.

Oracle Buys Vitrue

The Deal:
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) announced Wednesday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Vitrue, a leading cloud-based social marketing and engagement platform that enables marketers to centrally create, publish, moderate, manage, measure and report on their social marketing campaigns and activities on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+.

The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Oracle closed at $26.68 Wednesday, a gain of 1.21% on average volume.

Hearing Renewed Takeover Chatter in Monster Worldwide

The Rumor:
Monster Worldwide (NYSE: MWW) was the subject of renewed takeover chatter on Wednesday. On May 13, LinkedIn was rumored to have an interest in Monster, but that rumor was quickly quashed.

A spokesperson for Monster Worldwide had no comment on the rumor.

Monster Worldwide closed at $8.87 on Wednesday, a gain of 1.37% on half the average daily volume.

Newsletter Says Rosetta Genomics Possible Takeover Target

The Newsletter:
Rosetta Genomics (NASDAQ: ROSG) is a potential takeover target by big pharma, according to a report from 5 Star Equities on Wednesday. Rosetta shares are up 500% since undergoing a 1:15 reverse split on May 15.

A spokesperson for Rosetta Genomics was not available for comment.

Rosetta Genomics closed at $11.24 on Wednesday, a gain of 51% on 20 times the average daily volume.

GlaxoSmithKline Amends Human Genome Tender Offer to Address Poison Pill

The Offer:
GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK) today announced that it has amended the conditions of its tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Human Genome Sciences (NASDAQ: HGSI) for $13.00 per share in cash to address Human Genome's Board of Directors' adoption of a shareholder rights plan.

Because Human Genome has adopted a poison pill, Glaxo has added a condition to its offer requiring Human Genome to redeem the pill or, alternatively, Glaxo being satisfied in its reasonable judgment that the pill has been invalidated or is otherwise inapplicable to Glaxo's acquisition of Human Genome. The tender offer and withdrawal rights are still scheduled to expire at 12:00 midnight New York City time on June 7.

Human Genome Sciences closed at $13.88 on Wednesday, a loss of 0.86% on lower than average volume.