Benzinga's Microcap Movers for Monday March 19, 2012

Below are highlights from Benzinga's daily coverage of microcap securities making big moves:

Shares of Flanders Corporation (

), the Washington, NC manufacturer, and marketer of air filters and related products, rose 31% Monday on 50 times the average daily volume. Flanders Corporation announced Monday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of Insight Equity Holdings LLC, a middle-market private equity firm, in a transaction valued at approximately $192 million excluding fees and expenses. Under the terms of the agreement, upon consummation of the transaction Flanders' shareholders will receive $4.40 per share in cash for each share of Flanders' common stock, representing a premium of 39 percent over the average closing share price of $3.17 during the last 30 days ending March 16, 2012 and a 42 percent premium over Flanders' average closing share price of $3.10 during the last 90 days ending March 16, 2012. Flanders Corporation closed at $4.35 on Monday.

Shares of Recon Technology

, the China-based provider of hardware, software, and on-site services to companies in the petroleum mining and extraction industry, rose 168% Monday on 29 times the average daily volume. Recon Technology announced Monday that one of its variable interest entities, Beijing BHD Petroleum Technology Co. introduced the Baker Hughes Frac-Point System to China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation's Zhongyuan oilfield. The system helped Sinopec complete the fracturing of a dense sandstone horizontal well that required multistate fracturing. This cooperation positions BHD very well in meeting Sinopec's further fracturing needs. As of March 19, 2012, BHD has signed several contracts with an accumulated contract value of RMB 30 million (approximately $4.75 million). These contracts will be performed in different stages and are expected to be completed during the first half of 2012. Recon Technology closed at $2.25 on Monday.

Shares of Hemispherx Biopharma

, the Philadelphia, PA specialty pharmaceutical company, rose 19% Monday on 10 times the average daily volume. Hemispherx Biopharma announced Monday the publication of a peer-reviewed article providing the results from the AMP-516 Phase III Clinical Trial of Ampligen [rintatolimod, Poly I • C12,U], an experimental therapeutic, in the high impact, online journal, PLoS ONE. The report is entitled "A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Randomized, Clinical Trial of the TLR-3 Agonist Rintatolimod in Severe Cases of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". The primary endpoint, exercise tolerance, improved an average of 21% in subjects receiving Ampligen compared to placebo and the proportions of patients with exercise improvements of at least 25% and 50% were 1.7 and 1.9-fold greater for the Ampligen group versus placebo. On January 11, 2012, Hemispherx announced that the FDA had granted an extension of its pending New Drug Application for potential treatment of CFS. The Company is currently conducting "open-label" treatment protocol in the U.S. and evaluating new diagnostic modalities to provide additional insights into the CFS disorder. The FDA originally concluded (Complete Response Letter received 11/25/09) that this Phase III study was inadequate to support approval of the NDA. However, the new analyses and other insights in the PLoS One report supplement the original study findings. The Company believes that continued efforts to understand existing data and to advance the development of new data and information, will ultimately support a re-filing of the NDA. Hemispherx Biopharmaclosed at $0.38 on Monday.