Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Monday May 13, 2013

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Monday May 13, 2013: AsiaInfo-Linkage to be Acquired by Group Led by CITIC Capital Partners for $12.00/Share in Cash The Deal:
AsiaInfo-Linkage ASIA and CITIC Capital Partners announced today a merger agreement under which AsiaInfo-Linkage will be acquired by a private investor consortium led by CITIC Capital Partners. Under the terms of the merger agreement AsiaInfo-Linkage shareholders will receive $12.00 in cash for each share of common stock they hold. The deal is valued at approximately 890 million and is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. AsiaInfo-Linkage closed at $11.60 Monday, a loss of $0.08 on 12 times average volume. Report Qihoo 360 to Acquire Sohu's Sogou for $1.4B The Rumor:
Shares of Chinese Internet company Sohu.com SOHU rose sharply in early trading Monday on a report from WantChinaTimes that it was selling search engine company, Sogou, to Qihoo 360 Technology QIHU for $1.4 billion. Spokespersons for the companies were not available for comment. Sohu.com gained 4% Monday, closing at $63.20, while Qihoo 360 lost 4%, closing at $38.53. Report Microsoft Purchase of Nook Digital Assets from Barnes & Noble Not Happening The Rumor:
Shares of Barnes & Noble BKS sold off sharply Monday, on a report from Insider Monkey that "nothing imminent" was happening with regard to a Microsoft MSFT purchase of the digital assets of Nook Media, according to a source. On May 9, TechCrunch reported that Microsoft was preparing a $1 billion bid for the Nook assets. Spokespersons for Barnes & Noble and Microsoft declined comment on the rumor. Barnes & Noble closed at $21.10 Monday, a loss of 9.5% on 5.5 times average volume. Report AstraZeneca, Cubist, Bidding for Optimer Pharmaceuticals The Rumor:
Shares of Optimer Pharmaceuticals OPTR surged higher just before the market close Monday on a report from Bloomberg that AstraZeneca AZN and Cubist Pharmaceuticals CBST, were among companies that have submitted bids for Optimer Pharmaceuticals OPTR, according to sources. Spokespersons for the companies were not immediately available for comment. Optimer Pharmaceuticals closed at $14.66 Monday, a gain of 14% on 4 times average volume.