Advertisement

Deals of the day- Mergers and acquisitions

(Adds Orbitz Worldwide, Salix Pharma, Indian Oil, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk) Jan 20 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2100 GMT on Tuesday: ** Activist investor Starboard Value LP called for office-supply chains Staples Inc and Office Depot Inc to merge, saying it would lead to greater savings. ** Online travel agency Orbitz Worldwide Inc is exploring a sale and has drawn interest from private equity firms and other internet companies, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. ** Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a maker of bowel drugs, is working with investment bank Centerview Partners Holdings LP to explore its options, including a potential sale to a larger drugmaker, according to three people familiar with the matter. ** Belgium's Bank Degroof and Petercam announced plans on Tuesday to merge to create a top-three Belgian private bank with more than 47 billion euros ($54.44 billion) of assets under management. ** Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd , backed by Li Ka-shing, reported to be Asia's richest man, has bought Britain's Eversholt Rail for 2.5 billion pounds ($3.79 billion), the latest in a string of Asian buyers targeting European assets. ** Eurasia Drilling, Russia's largest drilling company by meters drilled, said on Tuesday oil services giant Schlumberger Ltd would buy a 45.65 percent stake in the firm for approximately $1.7 billion. ** Vossloh's biggest shareholder Heinz Hermann Thiele on Tuesday announced plans to make a cash offer valuing the German rail technology provider at around 650 million euros ($752.5 million), or roughly 10 percent less than its market value. [ID"nL6N0UZ2AG] ** Fidelity's $110 billion Contrafund trimmed its stake in Google Inc, its largest holding, as portfolio manager Will Danoff sees a potentially choppy market for the stock over the short term. ** Apparel retailer Express Inc said it ended talks to be bought by private equity firm Sycamore Partners, its largest shareholder, due to unavailability of financing. ** Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International is looking to sell its loss-making internet banking unit Zuno in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the company said, after being saddled with losses in unstable eastern European markets. ** Administrators for currency trading firm Alpari (UK) Ltd said they had received a number of inquiries from potential buyers of the business hit by heavy losses from last week's surge in the value of the Swiss franc. ** Indonesia's biggest telecommunication operator PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk said on Tuesday it had cancelled its plan to acquire New Zealand's 2 Degrees Mobile Ltd due to a disagreement on price. ** Twitter Inc on Tuesday said it would buy Indian mobile phone marketing start-up ZipDial, reportedly for $30 million to $40 million, as the U.S. microblogging service looks to expand in the world's second-biggest mobile market. ** RWE is exploring the sale of power plants, its chief operating officer told Reuters on Tuesday, frustrated with profit erosion and lack of political support for its struggling generation units. ** Brazilian oil and gas company HRT Participacoes SA reached an agreement to buy offshore assets of Royal Dutch Shell Plc in the Campos Basin, a source with knowledge of the deal said on Monday. ** UK-based loan provider The Car Finance Company is in talks over a possible sale to the investment firm Pine Brook Partners, Sky News reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. ** German wine seller Hawesko's chief executive Alexander Margaritoff will step down and sell his 30 percent stake in the group to Detlev Meyer, who will now be able to complete a takeover of the company. ** ArcelorMittal SA, the world's largest steel producer, is selling its sole asset in Russia, a Siberian coal-mining operation, documents from the federal anti-monopoly service showed. ** British insurer Aviva Plc said on Monday it may cut nearly 5 percent of the combined workforce following its planned $9 billion acquisition of rival Friends Life, as industry changes drive consolidation in the insurance sector. ** Britain's Serious Fraud Office has closed its investigation into the ill-fated sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard Co in 2011, saying there was not enough evidence to secure a conviction of the software firm's former executives. ** Goldcorp Inc said on Monday it has agreed to buy Probe Mines Ltd in an all-stock deal that values the metals exploration company at C$526 million ($439 million), in a bid to win control of the Borden Gold project in northern Ontario. ** Nigeria's Seplat Petroleum Development Company has won an extension to a deadline for announcing whether it intends to make a firm offer for oil producer Afren , the London-listed firm said on Monday. ** Luxembourg-based Griffin Real Estate has signed a letter of intent to buy the Qualia Development real estate arm of PKO BP, the Polish bank said on Monday. ** The surge in the Swiss franc will make it more difficult for General Electric to sell its Polish Bank BPH to a domestic rival, the head of Poland's regulator KNF said on Monday. ** Malawi is selling portions of two commercial banks to recapitalize in a move meant to turn around the struggling banks, the government's divestiture agency said on Monday. ** U.S. private equity fund Apollo has raised its bid for Slovenia's second-largest bank Nova KBM (NKBM) to about 200 million euros, Slovenian newspaper Finance reported on Monday. ** The world's top fish farmer Marine Harvest plans to merge its Chilean operations with AquaChile in return for a 42.8 percent stake in the firm, the Norwegian company said in a statement on Monday. ** Bank Islami Pakistan, the country's second-largest full-fledged Islamic bank, has received regulatory approval to study the acquisition of KASB Bank Limited. ** Leading Irish opposition party Sinn Fein would oppose the sale of Allied Irish Banks if it enters government following an election early next year, leader Gerry Adams said on Sunday. ** Hutchison Whampoa, owner of Britain's fourth-largest mobile operator Three, is in talks with Telefonica about buying its O2 network, the Sunday Times reported, citing unnamed city sources. ** Mashreq, Dubai's third-biggest lender by assets, is interested in acquiring Citigroup's Egyptian retail business, Mashreq's chief executive said on Sunday. ** United Arab Emirates-based RAK Ceramics, one of the world's biggest makers of floor and wall tiles, said on Sunday that it would sell its stake in a joint venture with U.S. firm Laticrete for an undisclosed sum. ** Spanish renewable energy firm Abengoa , which is selling assets to cut debt, said it had raised $328 million from selling shares in its U.S. unit after banks underwriting the offer bought more of the stock. ** Google Inc is in talks to buy mobile-payments company Softcard, technology news website TechCrunch reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. ** India's Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs will discuss on Wednesday the possible sale of a 10 percent stake in Indian Oil Corp, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, as the government looks for ways to meet its fiscal deficit target. ** Indonesia's biggest telecommunication operator, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk, said on Tuesday it had cancelled its plan to acquire New Zealand's 2 Degrees Mobile Ltd due to a disagreement on price. ** Activist hedge fund ValueAct Capital disclosed a 5.1 percent stake in Baker Hughes Inc, the world's No. 3 oilfield services company that has agreed to be bought by bigger rival Halliburton Co for $35 billion in cash and stock. ** Exchange operator BATS Global Markets is in discussions to buy institutional foreign exchange trading platform Hotspot from KCG Holdings Inc KCG.N for nearly $400 million, three sources close to the situation said on Friday. ($1 = 0.6603 pounds) ($1 = 0.8634 euros) (Compiled by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru)