The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Thursday:
** Activist investor Carl Icahn sued Dell Inc and its board on Thursday, his latest attempt to derail a $24.4 billion buyout bid by founder and CEO Michael Dell.
Some of Dell Inc’s largest investors who have abstained from voting on a $24.4 billion bid led by founder Michael Dell to take the No. 3 PC-maker private told the company’s board this week that they would back the deal at the buyout group’s latest offer price, three sources close to the matter said.
** Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings Ltd said it has little appetite for acquisitions after a $7.2 billion bid for PT Bank Danamon Indonesia Tbk stumbled, adding that it would instead redouble efforts to expand its existing Indonesian operations.
** Private equity firm American Securities LLC is exploring a possible sale of specialty chemicals manufacturer General Chemical Corp that could fetch more than $1 billion, three people familiar with the matter said this week.
** Spanish infrastructure firm Abertis Infraestructuras SA sold its stake in London’s Luton airport in a deal worth 502 million euros ($667 million), the latest step in a plan to divest its airport assets.
** Global investment company KKR & Co LP said it had agreed to acquire ReSearch Pharmaceutical Services Inc from private equity peer Warburg Pincus LLC, marking its second announced investment in a global contract research organization in as many months.
** United Arab Emirates-based Etihad Airways, which has stakes in Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd and Air Berlin Plc, will acquire a 49 percent stake in Serbia’s loss-making JAT Airways.
** Italian insurer Generali SpA is still looking for buyers for its Swiss private banking business BSI, but won’t sell if the price isn’t right, company executives said on Thursday.
The company will also exit its investment in Telecom Italia SpA, though it will do so at the right conditions, Chief Executive Mario Greco said.
** China Fishery Group Ltd raised its stake in Peruvian fish feed maker Copeinca ASA to 97.7 percent through a voluntary takeover offer, the firm said.
** Spanish utility Iberdrola SA said it had closed a deal to sell its Polish wind farms to the country’s state-controlled utilities PGE and Energa.
** Thai housing developer Quality Houses Pcl and its shareholder Land & Houses Pcl are in talks to sell their combined 50 percent stake in building materials retailer Home Product Center Pcl to foreign investors.
** Dubai Group has sold its 30.5 percent stake in Malaysia’s Bank Islam to BIMB Holdings Bhd for $550 million, the investment firm’s second asset disposal in less than two months.
** Mexican industrial conglomerate Elementia, part owned by billionaire Carlos Slim, said it completed its agreement to combine its cement company, Cementos Fortaleza, with French company Lafarge SA in Mexico.
** Britain could soon start selling its stake in Lloyds Banking Group after the country’s largest retail bank accelerated a turnaround and flagged a return to payouts for shareholders.
** Kazakh miner ENRC on Thursday dismissed as “unfounded” what it said were efforts by an anti-corruption pressure group to block a buyout bid by its founders, citing allegations one of the company’s subsidiaries breached sanctions against Zimbabwe.
** Bahrain-based private equity investor Investcorp said it had acquired premium crisp and snack maker Tyrrells Potato Crisps from Langholm Capital for 100 million pounds ($150 million).
** Bahrain-based Investcorp’s sale of UK online payments services firm Skrill has attracted interest from a clutch of bidders, including private equity firms CVC and Cinven, banking sources said on Thursday.
** Spain’s biggest telecoms operator Telefonica signed a deal with No. 4 provider Yoigo on Thursday allowing it to use its rival’s superfast mobile Internet frequencies in exchange for access to its broadband assets.
** Italy’s biggest commercial broadcaster Mediaset said on Thursday it did not expect to forge any partnership for its unprofitable pay-TV unit Mediaset Premium at the moment.
** Spain’s State Industrial Holding Company (SEPI) said on Thursday it had sold 0.36 percent of European aerospace group EADS for 126 million euros ($166.7 million), further reducing its stake in the company.
** Mexico’s top broadcaster Televisa SAB said it paid 7 billion pesos ($545 million) in seeking to acquire a controlling stake in Mexican cable company Cablecom.
** Russian coal miner Mechel OAO said it is selling its ferroalloy assets to Turkey’s Yildirim Group for $425 million and would use the proceeds to shrink its debt of more than $9 billion as well as invest in core projects.
** Pamplona Capital Management will acquire leading French funeral firm OGF from Astorg Partners with the help of 635 million euros ($843.18 million) of debt financing, banking sources said.
** Italy’s Finmeccanica SpA is still in talks to sell non-core assets, likely to include transport and energy businesses, despite long delays that have frustrated investors and prompted credit rating downgrades, its chief executive said.
** The Indian government will sell shares in three state-owned companies through a share auction on Friday to meet the market regulator’s rules of minimum 10 percent public shareholding in state-run firms.
India will sell 1.02 percent stake in State Trading Corp of India Ltd, 5 percent in Indian Tourism Development Corp and 3.56 percent stake in Neyveli Lignite Corp Ltd, Disinvestment Secretary Ravi Mathur told reporters.
** Coal miner Walter Energy Inc said it is aiming to raise $250 million from asset sales over the next nine months after reporting a second-quarter loss on Thursday as weak coal prices weighed on revenue.
** Apollo and TPG Capital are among buyout funds holding the debt of IVG with the aim of taking control of the Germany property group as last-ditch talks with creditors near an end, three sources close to the situation told Reuters.
Source : Reuters
