Research in Motion and 16 Stocks Making M&A News This Week

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to this week’s top mergers and acquisition news:

Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM)

In a Monday interview with Die Welt, Chief Executive Thorsten Heins of RIM said that his firm will explore strategic alliances with other tech companies once it has introduced its new BlackBerry 10 models, adding that the group’s strategic review might lead to the divestiture of the company’s hardware production or the sale of licenses to its software, among other options. Heins remarked that ”The main thing for now is to successfully introduce Blackberry 10, then we’ll see.”

Chief Financial Officer Wong Wai Ming of Lenovo says that his company is searching out potential buyout targets and alliances, among which include a possible arrangement with Research In Motion, according to Bloomberg, from an interview with Ming at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.

LM Ericsson Telephone Company (NASDAQ:ERIC)

Ericsson and STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) have retained JPMorgan to explore a divestiture of their cellphone-chip joint venture, ST-Ericsson, say inside sources to the Wall Street Journal.

Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN)

It is thought that the online deals provider Groupon has purchased Glassmap at an undisclosed price. Glassmap’s tech permits smartphone users to share their current location on a real-time basis with family and friends.

AT&T (NYSE:T)

AT&T will acquire the domestic retail wireless unit operated under the Alltel name by ATN’s subsidiary, Allied Wireless Communications Corporation of Atlantic Tele-Network, which is a telecommunications service supplier to rural, niche and other under-served markets. This is an all-cash transaction valued at around $780 million.

United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX)

The company will divest the former Goodrich Corporation pump and engine control systems business to Triumph Group, as required by regulators as a condition of UTC’s purchase of Goodrich Corporation. The transaction should close in the first quarter and is subject to regulatory approvals and the usual closing conditions.