Search Here

The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported on Thursday.

- Europe's largest retailer, Carrefour, is in advanced talks to buy over 100 shopping malls in France, Spain and Italy owned by real estate group Klepierre for 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion), French daily Le Figaro reported.

- Luxury homes builder Toll Brothers Inc said it would buy the home building business of privately owned Shapell Industries Inc for about $1.60 billion in cash, in a deal that will give the largest U.S. luxury homebuilder more access to affluent real estate markets in California.

- Hedge fund Eminence Capital LLC on Thursday disclosed a 9.8 percent stake in Men's Wearhouse Inc in a regulatory filing and urged the retailer to engage in talks with Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc, which last month announced an unsolicited bid to buy its larger rival.

- Belgian medical equipment company Arseus has bought a pharmaceutical software company in Brazil and sold its dental distribution activities in France, it said on Thursday.

- Austrian property group Immofinanz's BUWOG unit is in talks to acquire nearly 18,000 housing units in Germany, as the group aims to increase its portfolio in Europe's largest economy, Immofinanz said on Thursday.

- Italian waste management operator Waste Italia is in talks to sell the company to China's Sound Global SOGL.SI, the main shareholder of Waste Italia said on Thursday.

- The top shareholder in South African drug maker Adcock Ingram Holdings has rejected a $1.3 billion takeover offer from Chile's CFR Pharmaceuticals, saying the deal was not in its best interests, Business Day newspaper reported.

- France's BNP Paribas confirmed it had placed an unbinding offer to buy Bank BGZ, the Polish subsidiary of Dutch lender Rabobank, BNP said.

- Italy's biggest regional utility A2A will decide on the future of its investment in Montenegro power utility EPCG when the power cable linking the country to Italy is complete, A2A's managing director said on Thursday. A2A holds a 43.7 percent stake in EPCG.

- Italian oil major Eni is looking to expand its trading operations in the United States and will study assets currently offered for sale by rivals, a senior executive said.

- Telecom Italia investor Marco Fossati believes the possible sale of the phone group's Brazilian unit TIM would diminish options for future growth, according to slides for an analyst presentation.

- D.E. Master Blenders, the Dutch owner of Douwe Egberts coffee which was acquired by German investor Joh A Benckiser, said on Thursday it will increase its stake in Norwegian coffee company Kaffehuset Friele to 90 percent, from 45 percent currently. Kaffehuset Friele, based in Bergen, is a well-known brand in Norway. Financial details were not disclosed.

- Czech downstream oil group Unipetrol has agreed to buy Royal Dutch Shell's 16.3 percent stake in Ceska Rafinerska for $27.2 million, boosting its share in the main Czech refinery to 67.6 percent.

- Malaysia's third-largest listed plantation company, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, said it had agreed to a $21.3 million cash acquisition to gain a foothold in the palm oil sector in Liberia.

- German bullion retailer Degussa Goldhandel has bought London-based broker Sharps Pixley and says it expects the retail market for gold bars and coins to keep growing.

- Canada's Chemtrade Logistics Inc is in advanced talks to buy General Chemical Corp, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in a deal that could value the specialty chemicals maker at around $1 billion.

- Telecom Italia rebel investor Marco Fossati told an analyst meeting that a partnership with Vivendi's GVT subsidiary in Brazil would help the Italian phone group relaunch its business, two participants at the meeting said on Wednesday.

- The petrochemicals arm of Malaysia's state oil firm Petronas will sell its stake in Vietnam's Phu My Plastics and Chemical Co Ltd (PMPC) to Japan's Asahi Glass Co Ltd 5201.T and Mitsubishi Corp. Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd said in a stock exchange statement on Wednesday that the divestment of 93.1 percent of PMPC was part of a plan to discontinue its vinyl business and strengthen its asset portfolio.

- Merchant Bunge Ltd's new chief executive has signaled plans to shed its Brazilian sugar milling business, making it the first such player to consider exiting the once-hot sector, which has swallowed billions of dollars of investment. Mills in major producers Brazil, India and China have struggled with tumbling margins and years of falling prices, and a coming wave of closures appears to be a near-certainty.

- South Korean oil refiner S-Oil is considering the acquisition of a stake in Australian petrol and convenience store retailer United Petroleum, an S-Oil spokesman said on Thursday. The spokesman declined to give any additional details.

- U.S.-listed chipmaker RDA Microelectronics Inc said it received an $18 per share buyout offer from China's state-owned Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd, which is funded by the Tsinghua University, marking it a second such bid in more than a month.

- Australia's Bega Cheese Ltd said it has not yet decided whether to sweeten its offer for Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory Co Holdings Ltd after its approach was trumped by Canada's Saputo Inc. Bega said its board met on Thursday to consider its current offer of A$319 million ($304 million) and would "continue to consider the matter."

- Altra Holdings Inc, which makes mechanical power transmission products such as brakes, clutches and couplings, said it would buy Danish firm Svendborg for about 80.1 million euros ($108 million) in cash to gain access to newer technologies and expand its product offerings in clutches and brakes. Privately held Svendborg is headquartered in Denmark and caters to the mining and energy markets.

- French banks Societe Generale and Credit Agricole agreed to an asset swap in a bid to narrow their business focus as they prepare to woo investors in a tough economic environment. The deal will see SocGen buy its smaller rival's 50-percent stake in their jointly owned Newedge broker for 275 million euros ($372 million). Credit Agricole, meanwhile, will buy 5 percent of their Amundi asset-management venture for 337.5 million.

- The world's biggest food group, Nestle, said it was selling its Jenny Craig weight management businesses in North America and Oceania to private equity firm North Castle Partners for an undisclosed sum. The Jenny Craig business in France is not part of the transaction, Nestle said in a statement.

- Competition concerns about Archer Daniel Midland Co's A$3 billion ($2.90 billion) takeover of GrainCorp should be addressed by regulation, the Australian company said as political tensions over the deal resurfaced.

- French water and waste group Veolia Environnement said energy services would become a core business for the group after it takes over the international activities of its Dalkia joint venture with French state-controlled utility EDF. Veolia said that if discussions with EDF result in an agreement, EDF would take over all of the activities of Dalkia France, while Veolia would take over all of the activities of Dalkia International.

- Italian insurer Generali is still planning to sell its Swiss private banking business BSI but it will hold off until it is able to agree on a price it deems fair, the group's chief executive said.

- Autodesk Inc, a maker of computer-aided design software, said it would buy Britain's Delcam Plc for 172.5 million pounds ($277 million), in a deal to expand the U.S. company's software offerings in the manufacturing sector.

- Poland's biggest lender PKO BP plans to sell 66 percent of its card payment business to U.S.-based EVO Payments International for $113.5 million, PKO said on Thursday.

- ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, remains interested in the steel rolling mill in Alabama that ThyssenKrupp is seeking to sell. ThyssenKrupp has been trying for more than a year to offload its Steel Americas business, comprising a steel slab-producing mill in Brazil and the rolling mill in Alabama.

- San Miguel Corp is likely to have a new partner soon in Philippine Airlines when billionaire Lucio Tan seals a deal to sell out of the country's flag carrier, the president of the diversified conglomerate said. Tan has previously said he was open to sell all his remaining stake in the country's flag carrier to both foreign and local buyers.

- Hong Kong's central banking authority has formed a joint venture with British developer Great Portland Estates to develop a scheme in one of London's most expensive neighborhoods.