Swatch Group, the largest maker of watches by sales, has acquired Harry Winston's jewelry arm for a total consideration of $750 million. The acquisition also includes assumption of the jewelry arm's net debt of about $250 million.

Rogers Communications Inc will be acquiring Shaw Communications' Mountain Cablevision Ltd. Canada's diversified communications and media company Rogers Communications Inc.

Louis Dreyfus Commodities is planning to buy about 13 percent stake in Namoi Cotton Co-operative Ltd.

Following possible buyout reports with private equity firms, shares in Dell surged about 13 percent.

Transocean Ltd disclosed on its website that Carl Icahn acquired 1. 56 percent of stake in the company.

The Federal Reserve noted a sharp increase in borrowing loans from banks in November. The borrowing figures increased by $16 billion when compared to October.

American Express to cut 5,400 jobs this year. American Express Co. , announced that it will slash 5,400 jobs this year as a part of its restructuring effort and to offset losses.

Dish has made a $2.28 billion offer to Clearwire, which is higher than Sprint Nextel's $2.2 billion offer.

Reports suggest shares of the carrier dropped by 0.4 percent to 3, 765 yen at the close of Tokyo trading, a biggest decline since Dec. 28, Boeing shares fell 2.7 percent.

Cerberus Capital Management LP plans to reduce its stake in Japanese mid-sized lender Aozora Bank Ltd bringing down its stake in the bank from 58 percent to 7.7 percent.

The Hutchinson 3G Austrai-Orange Austria deal, valued at $1.7 billion (1.3-billion-euro), received European and Austrian regulatory approval, giving H3G the opportunity to push ahead with its plan to build a nationwide LTE network in the country.

With rise in demand for car-sharing services in the U.S., Avis Budget Group Inc. has decided to buy out car-sharing company Zipcar Inc. for estimated $500 million.

Qatar-based cable news channel Al Jazeera has reportedly taken over U.S.-based news and opinion channel Current TV for estimated at $500 million.

Sustained economic crisis in Europe has pushed ArcelorMittal into deeper debt, prompting the steel major to hive off 15 percent of its stake in ArcelorMittal Mines Canada.

A consortium of private equity (PE) firms comprising the Carlyle Group, Stone Point Capital, Pictet & Cie and Edmond de Rothschild Group have struck a deal to buy financial advisory and investment banking firm Duff & Phelps Corp for about $665.5 million.

Private Equity firm American Securities LLC has managed to sell Pittsburgh-based NEP Broadcasting LLC to another Private Equity firm Crestview Partners for reportedly $800 million to avert a potentially larger tax bill for such a deal in the New Year.

Toshiba Corp is in talks with six different groups for the sale of up to 36 percent of its stake in the nuclear unit.

The Mitsubishi Elevator ETA India Private Limited has been floated by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and UAE-based ETA Ascon Holding LLC as a joint venture in Chennai. The company will start operations from January 2013.

The move is also reportedly aided by a planned purchase of 70 percent of Sprint by Japanese mobile firm Softbank, with an associated capital infusion.

Delta Air Lines has agreed to pick 49 percent in Virgin Atlantic for $360 million. A two-year wait has finally yielded the much-vaunted outcome. American carrier Delta Air Lines has agreed to pick up a 49 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic for $360 million, which will give it access to London's Heathrow airport, the veritable hub of European corporate travelers.

MegaFon, Russia's second biggest mobile operator, has acted swiftly to pick a stake in cellphone retailer Euroset which operates 5,500 stores across the country and Belarus.

Daimler AG has sold 7.5 percent or half its remaining holding in European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. (EADS) for $2.17 billion (1.66 billion euros).

Tax consultancy in The Netherlands is seemingly on the upswing in view of a greater number of corporates seeking to establish their European holding companies in the EU member country because of its many bilateral tax agreements with other nations to prevent double taxation. Against this backdrop, US private equity firm Blackstone Group LP has decided to buy Dutch tax consultancy Intertrust from Dutch private equity firm Waterland for a reported $883 million (675 million euros).

US insurer American International Group Inc (AIG) has decided to sell 90 percent of its stake in ILFC, the world’s largest aircraft leading business, to a Chinese consortium –comprising New China Trust, which is one-fifth owned by Barclays Plc, China Aviation Industrial Fund and P3 Investments Ltd -- for a total consideration of $4.8 billion. An arm of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China will join the consortium once the deal has regulatory approval.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plans to bid for The Financial Times Group, which includes the world's leading business daily Financial Times (FT) as Pearson Plc, the publisher of FT, is reportedly planning to sell the daily.

Even as Singapore Airlines reportedly holds talks with other airlines for a possible sell-out of its 49 percent stake in British carrier Virgin Atlantic, Delta Air Lines Inc, the second-largest U.S. airline by operating revenue, is said to be closing in on the stake.

Mobile telecoms equipment maker Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) decided to hive off its optical fiber networks unit to private equity firm Marlin Equity Partners in a bid to focus solely on mobile broadband.

Japanese conglomerates Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Hitachi Ltd have decided to merge their thermal power businesses to take a vantage position in the domestic fossil-fuel power business.

The general economic buoyancy in South-east Asian countries coupled with steady credit growth has perceptibly increased global investor interest in leading banks operating in the region.

Indian business conglomerate Sahara India Pariwar has established a big presence in the U.S. hospitality industry by acquiring a 75 percent stake in The Plaza Hotel, New York City for about $570 million.