German carmaker Daimler will take a 5% stake in British luxury sports carmaker Aston Martin in exchange for supplying engines and electronic components to the latter. The partnership will develop a new generation of V8 engines for sports cars.

Australia-based international packaging giant Amcor has agreed to buy Constar International Holdings' US assets for an unconfirmed sum, in a court-supervised transaction under the US Bankruptcy Code.

Jones Group on Thursday announced that it will be bought by private equity firm Sycamore Partners for $2.2 billion, including the assumption of its debt. Sycamore valued Jones Group shares at $15 apiece.

Ontario, Canada-based tech giant IBM is acquiring California, US-based bootstrapped file transfer firm Aspera to provide its clients with a file transfer tool for data from social media and various devices.

The French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) on Thursday said that loss-making French telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA will be selling its enterprise telephone systems business.

John Hancock Financial, the US arm of Canadian life insurer Manulife Financial Corp. has bought three office properties in New York, Chiacgo and Boston collectively worth $618 million.

Investment bank UBS AG has put up for sale its administrative services arm for employee equity plans to simplify its operations. Corporate Employees Financial Services International will be sold to Montagu Private Equity.

Tech investment in Brazil is set to grow by 6% and investments for IT training will almost double in 2014, according to a recent survey among 1,000 decision makers in large and medium enterprises.

BASF SE, the largest chemicals company in Germany, is working on a bid for RWE DEA AG. DEA is the oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) unit of German electric utilities company RWE AG.

Ultra-deepwater excavation specialist Marin confirmed is to acquire Aberdeen, Scotland-based trenching solutions provider AGR Seabed Intervention for an undisclosed amount after a successful alliance between the two firms this year.

More state-owned companies in China may be sold off as private entities in a bid to improve economic, according to a Chinese official affiliated with the agency that controls the country's largest state firms.

Austria's OMV will divest its 45% stake in German oil refinery Bayernoil to Varo Energy for an undisclosed amount. Varo Energy is a partnership between Swiss oil trading firm Vitol and American private equity firm Carlyle Group.

Solar Frontier, a wholly owned subsidiary of Japanese petroleum company Showa Shell Sekiyu, will be investing ¥13 billion ($125 million) to construct a solar panel plant in Japan's Miyagi prefecture.

Lucio Tan, the chairman and chief executive of Philippine Airlines Inc (PAL) is expected to finalize the majority stake sale in the flag carrier next year with San Miguel Corp (SMC).

Korean Air, South Korea's flag carrier and largest airline, has put up for sale its shares in refiner S-Oil and 13 planes to raise KRW3.5 trillion. Proceeds from the deal will be used to pare its debt and provide aid to affiliate Hanjin Shipping Co.

Ireland-based gambling group Paddy Power has expanded the number of its outlets in Ireland through the purchase of nine bookies from Hacketts for an undisclosed sum.

Fosun International, controlled by Chinese tycoon Guo Guangchang, is seeking to acquire apartments, hotels and offices in New York as well as in other US cities after its purchase of lower Manhattan landmark 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza.

LIG Insurance Co. has put up for sale a controlling stake of 20.96% in the South Korean non-life insurer to compensate investors for losses sustained after buying debt issued by its affiliate. It has hired Goldman Sachs Group to advise on the sale.

Kuwait-based holding company Noor Financial Investment Company has decided to sell of its entire stake in Pakistan-based Meezan Bank Limited (MEBL) to Vision Financial Limited for $190 million, according to a notice issued on Wednesday.

Philippine-based conglomerate GT Capital Holdings Inc bought more than 40% of car dealership Toyota Manila Bay Corp (TMBC) in a deal valued at PHP502.25 million.

US-based private equity firms Carlyle Group and KKR & Co and Australian investment firm Archer Capital have advanced in the sale of Transpacific Industries Group's waste management business. The three firms are working with banks to put together loan packages to back their bids.

Hedge fund Clinton Group in a regulatory filing on Wednesday said that it is exploring an acquisition of California-based teen apparel retailer Wet Seal. The activist investor seeks to buy out Wet Seal's equity in a privatization deal.

Madrid, Spain-based global travel distribution system Amadeus bought hotel IT solutions provider Newmarket International Inc for $500 million in a bid to conquer the hospitality space.

Venezuelan bank Banesco has won the bid for a controlling stake in Spanish state-rescued lender NCG Banco through its €1 billion offer. Banesco bet out five other rivals in the auction.

Qatar's Al Jazeera is mulling over a bid for a controlling stake Turkish pay-TV company Digiturk. Digiturk is an Istanbul-based satellite TV provider with an enterprise value of $1.5 billion.

3D printing company 3D Systems has bought the solid ink product design, chemistry, and engineering teams of Xerox in Wilsonville, Oregon for $32.5 million, according to a press release.

Bristol-Myers Squibb is reportedly exiting its stake in a diabetes joint venture with AstraZeneca for $3 billion. Bristol-Myers shifted its focus from producing diabetes and hepatitis C treatment drugs to medicines harnessing the immune system to fight cancer.

California, US-based firm Planet Labs has closed a fresh $52 million from a recent funding round to launch small satellites into space and gather data about the Earth.

Dish Network Corp., which lost out to Japan's SoftBank in its attempt to buy Sprint Corp., is looking to offer a bid to acquire telecoms company T-Mobile US Inc. Sprint last week said that it is considering to bid for T-Mobile.

Italian clothier Moncler is expected to raise a total of about €784 million in its initial public offering after arranging banks Goldman Sachs Group, Bank of American Merrill Lynch and Mediobanca exercised the listing's greenshoe over-allotment option.