Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Tuesday October 16, 2012

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Tuesday October 16, 2012:

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Juniper Networks

is rumored to have hired JP Morgan to handle possible bids from potential buyers, according to sources. One bid is reported to be in the high $20's. EMC

has been mentioned recently as a potential buyer. A spokesperson for Juniper Networks declined comment on the rumor, indicating the company was in a quiet period till their Q3 2012 earnings call on October 23. Juniper Networks closed at $17.48 Tuesday, a gain of 4.11% on higher than average volume.

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Abercrombie & Fitch

is a takeover target of private equity, according to a note from Suntrust. The buyout price mention was in the $55 to $60 per share range. ANF announced last month it had hired Goldman Sachs to deal with activist investor Ralph Whitworth. A spokesperson for Abercrombie & Fitch was not available for comment. Abercrombie & Fitch closed at $32.52 Tuesday, a gain of 0.06% on average volume.

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Sprint

has no immediate plans to buy Clearwire

, according to a report from Bloomberg citing people knowledgeable about the situation. Softbank would have to agree to any other Sprint deals prior to closing their deal, according to the source. Sprint has paid Clearwire $900M to lease spectrum for 2012-2013. Clearwire closed at $2.23 Tuesday, a loss of 17.10% on almost 4 times average volume.