Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Wednesday May 28, 2014

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Wednesday May 28, 2014:

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Shares of Citrix Systems

rose Wednesday morning, on unconfirmed market chatter that Cisco

might bid as much as $90.00 per share for the networking and cloud services company. A spokesperson for Cisco declined comment on the rumor, a Citrix Systems spokesperson was not available for comment. Citrix Systems shares lost $0.26 Wednesday, to close at $60.86.

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Apple

confirmed Wednesday it is acquiring Beats Music and Beats Electronics for $3B, consisting of a purchase price of approximately $2.6 billion and approximately $400 million that will vest over time. Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will join Apple as part of the deal. Apple expects the transaction to close in FY Q4. Apple closed Wednesday at 624.01 and traded a bit higher after hours on the Beats news.

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Shares of biopharmaceutical company Vivus

surged higher Wednesday on a 13D filing from Aspen Investment Fund, indicating the fund was "contemplating a conditional non-binding offer to acquire the Issuer at a total consideration of $640 million." Aspen, represented by Cyprus attorney Zoi Potsi, took a 9.65% stake in Vivus. Vivus shares closed Wednesday at $4.95, a gain of 6%.

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Shares of medical technology company Stryker

rose sharply Wednesday in the premarket on a report from

it was planning to make an offer for orthopedic technology company Smith & Nephew

and had hired banks to assist in the process. In response to the report, Stryker issued a statement saying it does not intend to make an offer for its rival for six months, as per UK rules. Stryker shares closed Wednesday at $82.64, a gain of 3%, while Smith & Nephew also gained 3% to close at $83.05.