Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Thursday September 6, 2012

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Thursday September 6, 2012:

:

Realty Income Corporation

and American Realty Capital Trust

, announced Thursday that they have signed a definitive agreement under which Realty Income will acquire all of the outstanding shares of American Realty Capital Trust in a transaction valued at approximately $2.95 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, American Realty Capital Trust shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 0.2874 Realty Income shares for each share of American Realty Capital Trust common stock that they own. Based on Realty Income's closing stock price of $42.48 on September 5, 2012, this consideration would be equivalent to $12.21 per share. Upon closing of the transaction, American Realty Capital Trust shareholders are expected to own approximately 25.6% of Realty Income's shares. American Realty Capital Trust closed at $12.20 Thursday, a gain of 2.01% on 20 times average volume.

:

Merge Healthcare

announced Thursday that its Board of Directors has retained Allen & Company to assist in exploring and evaluating a broad range of strategic alternatives, including a sale of the Company. The Company does not intend to comment further regarding the evaluation of strategic alternatives, unless a definitive agreement for a specific transaction is entered into. Merge Healthcare closed at $3.54 Thursday, a gain of 9.94% on 5 times average volume.

:

Brocade Communications

is attracting private equity interest, according to

. A spokesperson for Brocade declined comment on the report. Brocade closed at $6.17 Thursday, a gain of 1.73%, on twice average volume.

:

A note from MKM Partners says Amarin

could be a takeout target by December in the mid-$20s. AstraZeneca, Bristol, Sanofi, Merck, Lilly and Roche were among the potential buyers mentioned in the note. An Amarin spokesperson was not available for comment. Amarin closed at $14.62 Thursday, a gain of 3.54% on lower than average volume.

:

Sale talks involving Higher One Holdings

have been suspended, according to

. On August 2nd,

reported that Higher One was seeking a buyer and had been in contact with private equity firms. CEO Mark Volchek responded to the report in an 8-K filing: "It is company policy not to respond to rumors or speculation. We remain committed to providing top quality service to our clients and customers in the higher education space." A Higher One spokesperson was not available to comment on Thursday's rumor. Higher One closed at $12.95 Thursday, a gain of 0.54% on average volume.