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The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, Canadian, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 1030 GMT on Friday:

** Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, the world's biggest brewer, will swallow the half of Grupo Modelo it does not already own for $20.1 billion in the latest in a string of deals by big brewers looking for growth in emerging markets.

** British buyout group Melrose said it had agreed to buy German utility-meter maker Elster Group for $2.3 billion in its first major deal for four years.

** U.S. drinks group Constellation Brands Inc will buy the remaining 50 percent interest in Crown Imports that it did not already own from Anheuser-Busch InBev SA for $1.85 billion following a move by the world's largest brewer to buy Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo.

** Australia's No.2 department store chain David Jones Ltd said it had received an unsolicited $1.65 billion bid from a consortium led by Britain's EB Private Equity - a firm it did not know much about and was unknown to many market players.

** French retailer Casino agreed to pay 1.175 billion euros ($1.46 billion) for the half of Monoprix it did not already own, calling a truce with department store owner Galeries Lafayette, its partner in the joint-venture.

** Dairy Crest Group Plc said it received a 430 million euros ($534.34 million) binding offer from Montagu Private Equity SAS for its St Hubert French branded spreads business.

** Chinese wire maker Fushi Copperweld Inc said late Thursday it has agreed to be taken private by a group led by its co-chief executive, in a deal valuing the company at about $364 million.

Co-CEO Li Fu and private equity firm Abax Global Capital will pay Fushi shareholders $9.50 per share in cash.

** Poland is still opposed to Acron's bid for the country's No.1 chemicals maker Azoty Tarnow, despite the Russian group's readiness to raise its 1.5 billion zloty ($434 million) offer, a deputy treasury minister said.

** China has sought an extra month to review Hanlong Mining's A$1.34 billion bid for Sundance Resources Ltd.

Sundance said it had agreed to extend the deadline for China's National Development and Reform Commission to approve the takeover to July 31 to give it time to review the terms agreed with Cameroon on developing the $4.7 billion Mbalam iron ore project.

** Private equity firm Bain Capital is in exclusive talks to buy Italian auto-parts distributor Rhiag from Alpha Associes in what could be the first Italian leveraged buyout (LBO) in more than a year, people close to the transaction said.

** South Korea's LG International has dropped its bid for the Wilkie Creek coal mine in Australia owned by U.S. miner Peabody Energy Corp.

Peabody decided late last year to sell the mine, valued at around $500 million, as it aimed to focus instead on the assets it acquired with its $5 billion takeover of Macarthur Coal in Australia.

** German unlisted optical technology group Carl Zeiss AG is in talks to sell its defence business to EADS's Cassidian unit, Financial Times Deutschland reported, citing industry sources.

** EU regulators are to step up their probe into a bid by Hong Kong's Hutchison 3G to buy France Telecom's Orange Austria on concerns that the 1.3 billion euros ($1.62 billion) deal would shrink the number of players in Austria to three.

Hutchison, a unit of Hutchison Whampoa, unveiled the takeover plan in February.

** At least two South Korean firms said they had entered bids to acquire a stake in water purifier manufacturer Woongjin Coway.

GS Retail Co Ltd said in a regulatory filing it had submitted a bid, while a spokesperson for Lotte Group said Lotte had also entered a bid.

This article is copyrighted by Reuters