Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Friday February 8, 2013

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Friday February 8, 2013:

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Shares of Rockwood Holdings

soared Friday on a report from

that the company was looking into a possible sale of its ceramic materials unit. According to sources, Rockwood has hired Lazard to explore potential options for CeramTec. A deal reportedly could be worth $1 billion. A spokesperson for Rockwood Holdings was not available for comment. Rockwood Holdings closed at $59.43 Friday, a gain of almost 8% on 3 times average volume.

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CIT Group

had been exploring a possible sale, according to

. Sources said CIT had discussions with Toronto-Dominion Bank

and Wells Fargo

, but no deal was reached. A spokesperson for CIT Group declined comment on the report. CIT Group closed at $42.75 Friday, a gain of 1.71% on 4 times average volume.

:

Dell's

largest shareholder outside the company, Southeastern Asset Management, sent a letter to the Board of Directors of Dell noting that it believes Dell's proposed go-private transaction grossly undervalues the Company, and will not vote in favor of the transaction as currently structured. Southeastern intends to retain and avail itself of all options at its disposal to oppose the announced transaction, including, but not limited to a proxy fight, litigation claims and any available Delaware statutory appraisal rights. Southeastern beneficially owns on behalf of its investment advisor clients approximately 8.5% of Dell's outstanding shares (including options). The letter was disclosed in a 13D filing on Friday. Dell announced Tuesday, that it had signed a merger agreement under which Michael Dell, in partnership with Silver Lake, would acquire Dell for $13.65 per share in cash, or $24.4 billion. Dell closed at $13.63 Friday, a gain of $0.10 on 1.5 times average volume.