Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Monday January 13, 2014

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Monday January 13, 2014:

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Sanofi

and Alnylam

announced Monday that Sanofi's Genzyme unit will acquire approximately a 12% percent stake in Alnylam, valued at $700M, based on a price of approximately $80 per share. Alnylam will receive R&D funding, beginning January 1, 2015, for projects involving Genzyme, plus Alnylam is eligible to receive milestones and royalties. The deal is part of a larger agreement under which Alnylam and Genzyme will expand their collaboration on rare genetic diseases. Alnylam closed Monday at $93.28, a gain of almost 41%.

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Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

announced Monday the acquisition of Merck

subsidiary Sirna Therapeutics for an upfront payment of $25 million cash and $150 million in Alnylam common stock. Under the agreement, Merck is eligible to receive up to $105 million in developmental and sales milestone payments per product and single-digit royalties associated with the progress of certain pre-clinical candidates discovered by Merck. In addition, Merck is eligible to receive up to $10 million in milestone payments and single-digit royalties on Alnylam products covered by Sirna Therapeutics' patent estate. Alnylam closed Monday at $93.28, a gain of almost 41%.

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Suntory Holdings

and Beam

announced Monday that they have entered into an agreement under which Suntory will acquire all outstanding shares of Beam for $83.50 per share in cash, for total value of approximately $16 billion, including assumption of Beam's outstanding net debt. The deal is expected to close in Q2 2014. Beam closed Monday at $83.42, a gain of 24%.

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Google

announced Monday that it is buying home automation company Nest Labs for $3.2 billion in cash. The deal is expected to close in the next few months. Google closed Monday at $83.42, a gain of 24%.

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Charter Communications

announced Monday that it has sent a letter to Time Warner Cable

proposing that the two companies engage in talks to work out a merger agreement. The letter does not mention a specific offer price, but

reported the offer is $132.50. CNBC's David Faber reported after-hours that Time Warner told Charter it would accept a $160 per share offer. Last month, CNBC reported a deal at $150-$160 would not happen. Charter will host a conference call on Tuesday, January 14, 2014 at 4:30 PM ET to discuss the proposal. Time Warner Cable closed Monday at $132.40 and traded around $135 after-hours.