Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Friday January 11, 2013

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Friday January 11, 2013:

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Shares of Splunk

rose sharply after the open Friday on reports that IBM

could possibly bid $4 billion to acquire the developer of software that analyzes machine-generated data. Spokespersons for Splunk and IBM were not available for comment. Splunk's IPO debuted at $32 on April 19, 2012. Splunk closed at $32.27 Friday, a gain of 8% on 2.5 times average volume.

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Fusion-io

was the subject of renewed takeover chatter on Friday, according to unconfirmed sources. The company has been the subject of frequent acquisition rumors, with EMC

and IBM

being mentioned most often as the potential buyers. A spokesperson for Fusion-io was not available for comment. Fusion-io closed at $19.93 Friday, a gain of almost 5% on twice average volume.

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Flowers Foods

announced Friday, it has signed two asset purchase agreements with Hostess Brands, Inc. as the "stalking horse bidder" for certain Hostess assets. One of the agreements provides for the purchase by Flowers of the Wonder, Nature's Pride, Merita, Home Pride and Butternut bread brands; 20 bakeries; and approximately 38 depots for a purchase price of $360 million. The other agreement provides for the purchase by Flowers of the Beefsteak brand for $30 million. The transactions are subject to a court-approved bankruptcy process being initiated by Hostess. Flowers Foods closed at $24.83 Friday, a loss of $0.05 for the day on lower than average volume.