Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Thursday December 22, 2011

Here are the M&A deals and chatter for Thursday December 22, 2011. Benzinga Pro reported them in real-time as they occurred: Akamai Technologies To Acquire Cotendo The Deal: Akamai Technologies AKAM and Cotendo announced Thursday that the two companies have signed a definitive agreement for Akamai to acquire Cotendo. Under terms of the agreement, Akamai will acquire all of the outstanding equity of Cotendo in exchange for a net cash payment of approximately $268 million, after expected purchase price adjustments, plus the assumption of outstanding unvested options to purchase Cotendo common stock. The closing of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, is expected to occur in the first half of 2012. Shares of Akamai Technologies traded in a range of $27.50 to $31.95 Thursday on 4.8 times of the average daily volume, closing at $31.63, a gain of 18% for the day. OPKO Health To Acquire FineTech Pharmaceutical The Deal: OPKO Health OPK announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire FineTech Pharmaceutical, a profitable Israeli company which develops and produces high value, high potency active pharmaceutical ingredients. The transaction is expected to close on December 29, 2011. Shares of OPKO Health traded in a range of $4.73 to $4.87 Thursday on 58% of the average daily volume and closed at $4.77 for loss of 1.45%. SodaStream to Acquire its Nordics and Baltics Distribution Rights The Deal: SodaStream International, SODA today announced that it will purchase its Nordic and Baltic distribution business, and all related assets, from its exclusive distributor, Empire AB, for a total net cost of 7.8 million Euros. SodaStream will now directly distribute its products in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Closing is expected to occur during the first week of January 2012. Shares of SodaStream traded in a range of $31.73 to $34.00 Thursday on 93% of the average daily volume and closed at $33.64, a gain of 5% for the day. Williams Partners Agrees to Acquire Laser Northeast Gathering System in Marcellus Shale The Deal: Williams Partners WPZ today announced it has agreed to acquire the Laser Northeast Gathering System and other midstream businesses from Delphi Midstream Partners, LLC for approximately $750 million. Delphi Midstream Partners, LLC is owned by American Securities LLC and management. This acquisition was not included in the 2011-13 capital expenditure or other guidance provided on Nov. 1. The partnership will update its guidance when it reports year-end 2011 financial results on Feb. 22, 2012. Williams Partners expects the transaction to close in first-quarter 2012. Shares of Williams Partners traded in a range of $59.20 to $60.00 on 74% of the average daily volume and closed at $59.61, about flat for the day. Trimble to Acquire StruCad Business From AceCad Software The Deal : Trimble Navigation TRMB announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the StruCad and StruEngineer business from AceCad Software to expand its construction solutions. The addition of the software products is expected to extend Tekla's industry leading Building Information Modeling solutions for structural steel contractors to automate project estimating and management, modeling and detailing. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012. Financial terms were not disclosed. Trimble shares rose 1.6% Thursday on 80% of the average daily volume. Trimble shares traded in a range of $43.98 to $45.04and closed at $44.72. Vulcan Board Unanimously Rejects Martin Marietta's Unsolicited Exchange Offer The Response: Vulcan Materials Company VMC announced Thursday that its Board of Directors, after consultation with its independent financial and legal advisors, unanimously determined that the Martin Marietta Materials MLM exchange offer to acquire Vulcan at a fixed exchange ratio of 0.50 shares of Martin Marietta common stock for each Vulcan common share is inadequate and not in the best interests of Vulcan and its shareholders. Accordingly, the Board strongly recommends that shareholders not tender any shares to Martin Marietta. Vulcan Materials shares traded in a range of $38.35 to $39.44 Thursday on half the average daily volume and closed at $39.44, a gain of less than 1% for the day. Martin Marietta Materials shares traded in a range of $75.51 to $77.72 Thursday on 71% of the average daily volume and closed at $75.79, a loss of less than 1% for the day. Walgreen to Acquire Rite Aid The Rumor: Walgreen WAG to may acquire Rite Aid RAD according to a Seeking Alpha blog post. Shares of Walgreen traded Thursday in a range of $32.75 to $33.98 Thursday on slightly less than the average daily volume and closed at $33.92, a gain of 1.6% for the day. Shares of Rite Aid traded Thursday in a range of $1.20 to $1.23 Thursday on 33% of the average daily volume and closed at $1.22, a gain of 1.6% for the day. General Electric, Siemens to Acquire First Solar The Rumor: General Electric GE or Siemens SI to acquire First Solar FSLR for $48 per share. This rumor pops up every week, this time from Bloomberg. Shares of First Solar traded in a range of $32.19 to $34.59 Thursday on 15% more than the average daily volume and closed at $34.15, a gain of 7.39% for the day.