Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Thursday January 24, 2013 - InvestingChannel

Benzinga’s M&A Chatter for Thursday January 24, 2013

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Thursday January 24, 2013:

Lenovo CFO Says Research in Motion Acquisition One of Many Under Consideration

The CFO Comments:

Shares of Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) moved sharply higher Thursday on comments from Lenovo’s CFO, Wong Wai, regarding potential takeover targets and strategic relationships. Wai mentioned RIMM as one possible opportunity, but not the only one.

A spokesperson for Lenovo told Benzinga the report from Bloomberg was overstated with regard to Research in Motion, and said Lenovo does look at all opportunities, as a responsible public company would.

Research in Motion closed at $17.74 Thursday, a gain of 2% on 2.5 times average volume.

Hearing Chatter of Cerberus Bid for JC Penney

The Rumor:

JC Penney (NYSE: JCP) was once again the subject of takeover chatter on Thursday. Unconfirmed market sources reported that Cerberus is looking into a transaction valued at $5.2 billion.

Spokespersons for JC Penney and Cerberus were not available for comment.

JC Penney closed at $19.12 Thursday, a gain of 4% on higher than average volume.

Hearing Renewed Takeover Chatter in First Solar

The Rumor:

First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) was the subject of takeover chatter once again on Thursday. Siemens (NYSE: SI), frequently mentioned, along with GE (NYSE: GE), was the rumored buyer.

First Solar closed at $30.30 Thursday, a loss of 2.73% on lower than average volume.

Amazon.com Acquires IVONA Software

The Deal:

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced Thursday, that it has acquired leading text-to-speech technology company IVONA Software. IVONA delivers world-class technologies that power the “Text-to-Speech,” “Voice Guide” and “Explore by Touch” features on Kindle Fire tablets. Additionally, IVONA delivers text-to-speech products and services for thousands of developers, businesses and customers around the world.

Amazon closed at $273.62 Thursday, a gain of 2% on average volume.

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