Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Thursday December 29, 2011

Here are the M&A deals and chatter for Thursday December 29, 2011: Capstone Offers to Acquire Manhattan Bridge Capital The Offer: Manhattan Bridge Capital loan holder, Capstone, offers to buy the company for $1.30 per share. The offer was announced in the Manhattan Bridge Capital's LOAN 13D filing: Pursuant to the original 13D filed on September 9, 2011, the Reporting Persons have engaged in discussions with management, members of the Company's board of directors and other relevant parties concerning the business, operations, board composition, management, strategy, financing and future plans of the Company. In line with the preceding, the Reporting Persons have sent a letter dated as of December 29, 2011 to Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company detailing an offer by the Reporting Persons to purchase the outstanding shares of the Company for $1.30 per share. Shares of Manhattan Bridge Capital rose 22% Thursday on 29 times the average daily volume. Shares traded in a range of $1.00 to $1.20 and closed at $1.10. Research in Motion to be Acquired in Q1 2012 The Rumor: Option Monster co-founder and CNBC contributor, Jon Najarian, says Research in Motion will be acquired in the first quarter of 2012 for around $24 per share. Najarian listed the Research in Motion RIMM takeover as one of his 'top five predictions for 2012'. Shares of Research in Motion rose less than 1% Thursday on about half the average daily volume. Shares traded in a range of $14.18 to $14.36, but spiked as high as $14.47 after-hours. Alibaba Hires US Lobbying Firm to Handle Possible Bid for Yahoo The Rumor: Alibaba (ALBCF) has hired Washington, D.C. lobbying firm Duberstein Group to prepare a possible bid for Yahoo YHOO, according to sources. Alibaba has been mentioned in almost every Yahoo takeover rumor, in one form or another. It appears a deal will happen in the near future. Shares of Yahoo rose 2% Thursday on a bit more than half the average daily volume. Shares traded in a range of $15.80 to $16.23, closing at $16.13.