Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Thursday August 7, 2014

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Thursday August 7, 2014:

:

Facebook

announced Thursday, it is acquiring

, which helps protect computers and data centers that power Internet services. Financial terms were not disclosed. Facebook closed Thursday at $73.17, a gain of 1%.

:

Shares of Telecom Italia

rose to near $11.00 Thursday morning, following a report from

that the firm was seeking an alliance with France's Vivendi

. According to sources, Telecom Italia's CEO and Vivendi's Chairman had discussions. Spokespersons for Vivendi and Telecom Italia declined to comment. Telecom Italia closed at $10.72 Thursday, a gain of $0.01 on 6 times average volume.

:

Freeport-McMoRan

is reportedly considering a sale of its onshore oil wells in California, in a deal that could be worth as much as $5 billion, according to a report from

. Sources say Freeport is contacting potential buyers, which may include PE firms and oil companies. A Freeport spokesperson declined comment on the rumor. Freeport-McMoRan shares closed Thursday at $36.15, a loss of 1.5%.

:

Post Holdings

announced Thursday, it has signed a stock purchase agreement to acquire American Blanching Company for $128 million. The transaction is expected to be completed in Q1 of FY 2015. Post Holdings closed Thursday at $44.51, a loss of $0.77.

:

Ellie Mae

announced Thursday, that it is acquiring information provider for the mortgage industry, AllRegs, for $30.0 million in cash. The deal is expected to close within 90 days. Ellie Mae closed Thursday at $33.49, a loss of 3%.