1.   A bigger difficulty is that the premature announcement of merger talks may tempt other firms into bidding for one or both.

2.   The merger talks started in September last year.

3.   Also today, Cinergy Corp. of Cincinnati, Ohio, an electric and gas utility, said it was in preliminary merger talks with unidentified third parties.

4.   Although its merger talks with the Sprint Corp. collapsed last June, the companies have since been doing twice as much business together and are sharing customers.

5.   American Home soared on news of the merger talks, which also lifted other drugs stocks in anticipation of further industry consolidation.

6.   American Home and SmithKline Beecham broke off merger talks in January.

7.   American Home soared on news of the merger talks, which also lifted other drug stocks in anticipation of further industry consolidation.

8.   And earlier this year, merger talks with British drug maker SmithKline Beecham PLC collapsed.

9.   Analysts who follow Chiron have largely declined to speculate on possible merger talks.

10.   And it was unclear if Wasserstein knew either about the news article or the merger talks.