The two companies began to sound each other out about a merger.

The first discussions about such a merger had taken place at the end of the 19th century.

The two cities talked about a potential merger for years, starting in the late 1970s.

It is against the law to trade on inside information about an imminent merger, of course.

So she'd started reading the kind of magazine that talked about mergers.

Some states have also been concerned about mergers of local banks.

The two companies had been talking about a possible merger for about six months.

But the stock is still up 11 percent in the last two weeks because of the speculation about mergers among big financial concerns.

In a news release, the company said that the directors continued to have concerns about a merger.

Its share price has risen nearly 14 percent in the last two weeks as speculation about a merger increased.