Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Tuesday January 5, 2016

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Tuesday January 5, 2016:

Legg Mason in Talks to Acquire 80% Stake in Clarion Partners

The Rumor:
Legg Mason Inc.(NYSE: LM) is in exclusive talks to acquire a majority stake in Clarion Partners, according to sources as reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday. The deal would value Clarion at around $850 million, the sources said.

Legg Mason would buy 80% of Clarion from Lightear Capital, while management would retain 20%.

Reuters reported on November 19, that Lightyear was seeking to sell its stake for $800M, with Legg Mason being a potential buyer.

Legg Mason closed at $36.68 on Tuesday, down 2.64%.

Fairchild Board Determines Revised Bid Would Reasonably Be Expected to Result in Superior Proposal

The Superior Offer:
Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCS) announced Tuesday, that its board of directors has determined that a revised unsolicited proposal received on December 28, 2015, from China Resources Microelectronics Limited and Hua Capital Management for $21.70 per share in cash would reasonably be expected to result in a superior proposal, according to Fairchild's agreement and plan of merger with ON Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: ON).

On November 18, 2015, Fairchild announced it had agreed to be by ON Semiconductor for $20.00 per share in cash.

Fairchild Semiconductor closed at $21.19 on Tuesday, up 3.52%.

General Steel to Sell Steel Manufacturing Business

The Divestiture:
General Steel Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: GSI), announced Tuesday, that on December 30, 2015, the company agreed to sell its steel manufacturing business for $1 million to an affiliate of Victory Energy Resource Limited. Following the sale, GSI plans to concentrate on its cleantech business.

Shares of General Steel had been halted since Monday.

General Steel closed at $3.07 on Tuesday, up 12.03%.