Abbott said that it has signed a definitive deal to acquire Alere for a net value of $5.8 billion in cash. Abbott expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to its earnings per share upon completion.

Apple has been used to acquire smaller technology enterprises occasionally and is reluctant to discussing its policy or plan. This has been referred as the Apple’s usual nod for purchasing any company by the analysts. Thus the analysts confirm Apple’s Flyby Media acquisition and predict developing of iPhone headsets capable of tracking subject’s motion.

Foxconn has put forth a highly tempting offer of over $5 billion in front of the almost-bankrupt Sharp Corp, which well exceeds its current valuation at $1.8 billion. The other potential buyer, Innovation Network Corp. of Japan, who was already very confident, is not so sure of a win right now. Foxconn's bid amount not only surpasses Innovation's $2.5 billion, the Taiwanese firm has also offered to absorb all of Sharp's debts and not make any top management replacements. While the board does not want their Japanese seller to fall under any kind of foreign control, the decision needs to be based purely on deal economics and not political considerations.

Microchip technology Inc. bought rival chipmaker Atmel Corp. for a price of $3.56 billion. This acquisition beats other bidder Dialog Semiconductor PLC due to its sudden share price drop.

Time Warner Cable raises its cable and internet rates in New York after its $55 billion merger with Charter Communications got approved.

The supermarket giant, Woolworths has finally announced its decision to wrap up its home improvement project, Masters. After incurring heavy losses for almost four years, chairman Gordon Cairns has decided on selling or shutting down the operations. For this, the company his approached its joint venture partner, Lowe's, to buy out its 33.3% stake in Masters., but it may take several months to sort out the exit options.

Ethiopia's Agricultural Ministry has terminated its agreement with Indian company's Karuturi Global Ltd. last month on the grounds that the company has not made enough progress as agreed upon. Karuturi has claimed that the government has prevented it from making any further progress and will take legal action to fight the cancellation.

The BT Group deal concluded smoothly when the British Competition and Markets Authority gave its go-ahead. The verdict brought together two huge customer bases under the same roof, which can potentially make BT the largest provider of mobile, home telephone, internet and TV services in the United KIngdom.

Two big names, Wesfarmers and Sainsbury's, are vying for the Home Retail deal, despite warnings sent out by the seller itself regarding low profit expectations. While the deal seems to be in favor of Wesfarmers, Sainsbury's is not out of the picture yet.

Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is said to have agreed to buy a 20 percent stock in Philippines' lender Security Bank Corp for $773 million (36.9 billion pesos), as an effort to strengthen its growth in Southeast Asia.