Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Wednesday December 14, 2011

Wednesday marked the return of two frequent m&a pairings and an after-hours merger announcement. Google to Acquire Interdigital The Rumor: Google GOOG to acquire Interdigital IDCC for $65.50 per share. This rumor has been floating around for months and once again turned out to have no merit. Interdigital responded to Benzinga's call with the usual 'no comment'. Google did not respond to our call. Interdigital shares traded in a range of $38.51 to $42.30 on 61% greater than average volume, closing at $39.97, a gain of 2% for the day. Microsoft to Acquire Nokia's Smartphone Business The Rumor: Microsoft MSFT to Acquire the smartphone business of Nokia NOK, according to a report issued by Danske Bank. The Danish bank said the transaction would take place in the first half of 2012. Benzinga placed calls into both Nokia and Microsoft. Nokia did not respond and Microsoft replied with their usual 'no comment'. Nokia shares traded in a range of $4.96 to $5.16 on less than the average daily volume, closing at $5.02, a gain of 0.60% for the day. Lam Research to Acquire Novellus Systems The Deal: Lam Research LRCX to Acquire Novellus Systems NVLS, in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $3.3 billion. The combined enterprise will retain the name of Lam Research Corp. Novellus Systems was halted at 5:49pm, just prior to the press release. Shares resumed trading at 6:20pm and spiked as high as $42, up from the regular session close of $34.70. Novellus closed the after-hours session at $41.68, up 20%. There had last been takeover chatter in Novellus Systems on October 11. These rumors came out yesterday. reported them in real-time as they occured.