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

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

ALCO Stores to Be Acquired by Argonne Capital Group for $14/Share in CashThe Deal

ALCO Stores

ALCS

and PE firm Argonne Capital announced Thursday that the companies have agreed that Argonne will acquire all of the outstanding shares of ALCO Stores' common stock for $14.00 per share in cash. The total value of the deal is approximately $47 million. The deal is expected to close later this year. ALCO Stores closed at $13.81 Thursday, a gain of 61% on 19 times average volume.

Hearing Hudson Bay Hires Merrill Lynch as Advisor in Bid for SaksThe Rumor

Shares of Saks

SKS

surged higher Thursday on a story from

Deal Reporter

that Canada's Hudson Bay Company had hired Merrill Lynch as an advisor in preparation for a bid for Saks.

Women's Wear Daily reported on June 24 that Hudson's Bay was looking at a bid for Saks. A spokesperson for Saks declined comment on the report. A Hudson's Bay spokesperson was not available for comment. Other potential buyers previously mentioned include KKR KKR and Starwood's HOT Barry Sternlicht. Saks closed at $15.18 Thursday, a loss of $0.03 on almost twice average volume.

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