Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Thursday January 17, 2013

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Thursday January 17, 2013:

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K-Swiss

and E.Land World announced Wednesday entry into a definitive agreement pursuant to which E.Land World will acquire all of the outstanding common stock of K-Swiss for $4.75 per share in cash, or a total equity value of approximately $170 million. Under the terms of the agreement, K-Swiss stockholders will receive $4.75 in cash for each outstanding Class A and Class B share of K-Swiss common stock they own, representing a 49% premium over the closing price for a share of Class A common stock on the NASDAQ Stock Market on January 16, 2013, and a 62% premium over the three-month, volume-weighted average trading price for a share of Class A common stock on the NASDAQ Stock Market as of January 16, 2013. K-Swiss closed at $4.71 Thursday, a gain of 47% on 131 times average volume.

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Shares of Big Lots

spiked higher on a report from

of renewed private equity interest. A spokesperson for Big Lots was not available for comment. Big Lots closed at $31.22 Thursday, a gain of almost 5% on 3 times average volume.

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American Greetings

CEO Zev Weiss and President Jeffrey Weiss reported in a 13D filing on Thursday that they have raised their offer to acquire the company for $17.50 per share. The Weiss family had offered $17.18 per share on September 25, 2012. The Weiss family, who owns 63.6% of American Greetings, reported they have commitments for $700 million in financing. American Greetings closed at $15.48 Thursday, but traded at $17 after-hours on the report.

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Stryker Corporation

and Trauson Holdings Company announced Thursday that Stryker will make a voluntary general offer to acquire all the shares of Trauson for HK $7.50 per ordinary share for a total consideration of $764 million in an all cash transaction, representing an enterprise value of approximately $685 million. Trauson`s controlling shareholder, Luna Group, has undertaken to accept the offer from Stryker by tendering 61.7% of the Trauson shares towards the offer. Stryker closed at $60.62 Thursday, a gain of 2% on higher than average volume.