Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Thursday April 25, 2013

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Thursday April 25, 2013:

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Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics

rose in early trading Thursday on unconfirmed market chatter of a potential bid for the maker of Eteplirsen, which is designed to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Vertex Pharmaceuticals

, whose own shares soared on April 18 following the release of positive phase 2 cystic fibrosis data, was rumored to be the buyer. Zachary Prensky of

, told Benzinga, that while a deal for Sarepta would be attractive to Vertex at the current price level, there is no evidence they intend to make an offer. Also, Sarepta CEO Christopher Nishan Garabedian has said he preferred Sarepta to grow as an independent company. Spokespersons for Sarepta and Vertex were not available for comment. Sarepta Therapeutics closed at $30.30 Thursday, a gain of $0.11 on average volume.

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reported late Wednesday that Verizon

had hired advisers to prepare a possible $100 billion bid for the stake in Verizon Wireless owned Vodafone Group

.

reported Thursday that a Vodafone investor told them a deal could be made at $135 billion. Spokespersons for Verizon and Vodafone declined comment on the report. Verizon closed at $53.22 Thursday, near its 52-week high. Vodafone closed at $30.43, also near its 52-week high.

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GAIN Capital Holdings

announced Thursday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Global Futures & Forex for approximately $107.8 million, including $80 million of GFT cash at closing, resulting in a net purchase price of $27.8 million. The purchase will be paid with $40 million in cash, a five-year $40 million seller note and the issuance of approximately 4.9 million shares of GAIN common stock. The transaction is expected to close in Q3 2013. GAIN Capital Holdings closed at $5.44 Thursday, a loss of 3% on 8 times average volume.