Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Monday January 7, 2013

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Monday January 7, 2013:

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Shares of Illumina

fell in the pre-market and never fully recovered, following comments by Roche

Chairman Franz Humer that a deal was 'off the table.' Huber made the comments to Swiss Newspaper

. Illumina had rejected offers of $44.50 and $51.00 per share from Roche, the last rejection by Illumina's board coming in April 2012. Rumors of a bid of $60 per share persisted, but never materialized. Illumina closed at $50.90 Monday, a loss of 7% on 4.5 times average volume.

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BHP Billiton

is rumored to be close to a deal to acquire Walter Energy for $60 per share, according to unconfirmed sources. Shares of Walter Energy surged to a high of $40.65 on Monday on the report. Spokespersons for BHP and Walter Energy were not available for comment. However, BHP has said in the past they had no interest in Walter Energy. Walter Energy closed at $39.61 Monday, a gain of 4% on higher than average volume.

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Walter Investment Management

announced Monday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire approximately $93 billion of unpaid principal balance of Fannie Mae backed residential servicing assets, including related advance receivables of approximately $1 billion, from Bank of America

. The purchase price for the mortgage servicing rights ("MSRs") of $519 million represents a multiple of approximately 2.05x the 27 basis point base contractual servicing fee of the portfolio. The related advance receivables will be purchased at par. The purchase price will be subject to customary adjustments, including an adjustment to actual UPB as of the January 31, 2013 closing date. Walter Investment Management closed at $47.68 Monday, a gain of 8% for the day on 3 times average volume.

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Nationstar Mortgage Holdings

announced Monday that Nationstar Mortgage LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire approximately $215 billion in residential mortgage servicing rights, as measured by unpaid principal balance as of November 30, 2012, and certain other assets from Bank of America

. The purchase price for the mortgage servicing rights is approximately $1.3 billion. The MSR portfolio purchases will close as investor and other third-party approvals are received, which Nationstar expects the majority to occur in Q1 2013. In addition to the MSRs, Nationstar will also be acquiring approximately $5.8 billion in related servicing advance receivables as the associated portfolios are boarded during 2013. Nationstar expects to enter into third-party financing agreements to fund the servicing advances. Nationstar Mortgage closed at $38.83 Monday, a gain of almost 17% for the day on 6 times average volume.

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Krispy Kreme Donuts

and Jamba

are potential takeover targets, according to a report from

. The recent acquisitions of Teavana, Peet's Coffee and Caribou Coffee were cited as a reason KKD and JMBA might be the next targets. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts closed at $10.92 Monday, a loss of 2% on twice average volume. Jamba

rose $0.02 on 4 times average volume.