Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Tuesday December 2, 2014

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Tuesday December 2, 2014:

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Apollo Global Management NYSE: APO 0% is said to be the most likely winner for PetSmart, Inc.

, according to a source, as reported by the

. The Leon Black-led firm is expected to offer between $78 and $82 per share by the Thursday bid deadline. Shareholder Jana Partners has been pressing for a sale of the pet supply chain. Both Apollo and PetSmart declined comment. PetSmart closed Tuesday at $79.08, a gain of $0.47.

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Roche Holding AG

announced Tuesday, the acquisition of privately-held molecular diagnostics testing service, Ariosa Diagnostics. Terms were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in December, 2014. Roche shares closed Tuesday at $37.65, a loss of $0.27.

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Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

announced Tuesday, that it has agreed to be acquired by Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd.

for $17.00 per share in cash, in a transaction which values Avanir at approximately $3.5 billion. Otsuka will launch a tender offer within ten business days to purchase all outstanding shares of Avanir. The transaction is expected to close in Q1 of 2015. Avanir shares rose almost 13% Tuesday, to close at $16.92.

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Shares of BP p.l.c.

surged higher Tuesday, on unconfirmed market chatter that Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:

) could offer as much as $46.00 per share for the UK-based energy company. Spokespersons for BP and Shell declined comment on the rumor. BP shares rose more than 2% Tuesday, to close at $40.72.