Deals of the day- Mergers and acquisitions
Jan 20 (Reuters) - The following bids,
mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2200 GMT on
Monday:
** Oil major Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it had agreed to sell stakes in a gas project in Western Australia for $1.14 billion as part of a drive to improve return on investment.
** General Electric Co has agreed to buy flow equipment provider Cameron International Corp's reciprocating compression division for $550 million as it looks to benefit from the boom in the development of shale oil and gas fields.
** French carmaker PSA Peugeot PA has taken a decisive step towards a tie-up with China's Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd as the board approved the outlines of a contentious survival plan that divided the founding Peugeot family.
** China's Lenovo Group Ltd has resumed discussions to buy International Business Machines Corp's low-end server unit, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
** French utility GDF Suez SA had takeover approaches for Canada-based Talisman Energy Inc rebuffed late last year as it seeks acquisitions worth as much as $10 to $20 billion outside Europe, banking and industrial sources said.
** Activist investor Elliott Management Corp has raised its stake in German drug distributor Celesio AG and now controls shares equivalent to 24.08 percent of voting rights, regulatory filings to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Monday showed.
** TransCanada Corp, Canada's No. 2 pipeline company, said it will sell its Cancarb Ltd unit, a carbon black manufacturer, to Japan's Tokai Carbon Co Ltd for C$190 million ($173 million) in order to focus on expanding its pipeline business.
** Osisko Mining Corp rejected an unsolicited C$2.6 billion ($2.37 billion) takeover bid from rival Goldcorp Inc , saying the offer was financially inadequate and not in the best interests of its shareholders.
** French state-controlled nuclear group A reva SA and Spanish wind turbine maker Gamesa have agreed a preliminary deal to create one of the biggest players in offshore wind energy.
** Qatar's Barwa Real Estate Co QSC said it had agreed to sell its 37.34 percent stake in unlisted Barwa Bank for 2.39 billion riyals ($656 million) as part of a wider deal to help the property developer cope with its debt burden.
** Deutsche Bank AG said it expected the
long-planned sale of its BHF-Bank unit to happen early in 2014, according to
presentation slides. Deutsche Bank, which is selling BHF to financial investor
RHJ International SA , wrote nearly 200 million euros ($271.15 million) off the
value of the unit in the fourth quarter.
** Britain's Co-operative Group has scrapped the sale of its general insurance business following a restructuring deal which means it does not have to contribute as much capital to its struggling bank as initially envisaged.
** Bahrain-based investment firm Gulf Finance House BSC said it was offloading 75 percent of English soccer club Leeds United to a consortium of British investors and would retain a 10 percent stake following the sale.
** Shares in Perusahaan Gas Negara surged as much as nearly 9 percent after reports said the Indonesian parliament had rejected a planned acquisition of the gas utility firm by state energy company Pertamina.
** Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (Taqa) plans to invest about $1.2 billion developing the Atrush oil and gas block in the autonomous Kurdistan region, the head of Taqa's Iraq operations said.
** The board of Norwegian Car Carriers ASA will recommend that shareholders reject a bid for the firm made by Car Carrier Investments, board member Atle Bergshaven told Reuters.
** Dubai district cooling firm Empower bought Palm Utilities from a unit of Dubai World for $500 million on Sunday, part of a shuffle of assets between companies ultimately owned by Dubai's government or the emirate's ruler.
** Tesco Plc considered a bid for mother and baby products retailer Mothercare Plc to help reinvigorate its British hypermarkets, the Sunday Times reported. Citing retail sources, the newspaper said Tesco examined a bid six months ago but has put the plan on hold.
** Royal Dutch Shell and Mubadala Petroleum have swapped equity stakes in two exploration blocks off Malaysia, the companies said on Sunday. Mubadala has taken a 20 percent interest in the Shell-operated deepwater Block 2B and Shell has taken a 20 percent interest in the Mubadala-operated Block SK320 in return.
** Bahrain's Investcorp Bank BSC and the founders of TDX Group have agreed to sell their stakes in the British technology firm to U.S. credit reporting agency Equifax Inc for 200 million pounds, according to a filing at Bahrain's bourse.
** Eaton Corp on Monday said it would sell its aerospace power distribution unit to Safran SA for $270 million, in a deal that is expected to close in the first half of 2014.
** Indian drugmaker Aurobindo Pharma Ltd said on Saturday it agreed to buy Actavis Plc's commercial operations in seven Western European countries for about 30 million euros, in a bid to increase its international footprint.
