Jan 10 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions
and disposals were reported by 2100 GMT on Thursday:
** IntercontinentalExchange would consider selling
Euronext as an alternative to floating it if bids for the
European stock market emerge during ICE's planned $8.2 billion
takeover of NYSE Euronext, three sources close to the exchange
said.
** Greece's top three lenders, National Bank,
Eurobank and Alpha, will not submit binding
offers for troubled Hellenic Postbank, a banker close
to the procedure said on Thursday.
** Spain's Telefonica said on Thursday it had
agreed to sell its 13 percent stake in satellite operator
Hispasat to Spanish infrastructure company Abertis and
Paris-listed Eutelsat for 101 million euros ($132
million).
** Supervalu Inc struck a $3.3 billion deal to
reduce its burdensome debt by selling five retail grocery chains
to an investor group led by Cerberus Capital Management LP
, the No. 3 U.S. grocery store operator announced on
Thursday.
The transaction will be valued at $3.3 billion, in which the
buyer will take on $3.2 billion of Supervalu's debt.
** British semiconductor materials maker IQE Plc
said it would buy a unit of U.S.-based Kopin Corp for
$75 million to strengthen its position in the wireless industry.
** Legg Mason Inc has been approached in recent
months by some of its senior managers and private equity firms
with plans to take the struggling asset manager private, but the
board has decided against exploring that option at least until
the company has a new chief executive, three sources said.
** Italian milk group Granarolo, a competitor of
French-controlled dairy group Parmalat, said it had
agreed to buy French cheesemaker CIPF Codipal from holding
Compagnie du Forum SAS as part of its strategy to grow
internationally.
** China's insurance regulator said it has conducted a
preliminary review of HSBC Holdings Plc's
planned sale of its $9.4 billion stake in Ping An Insurance
to Thailand's CP Group and is seeking more
information from the Chinese insurer.
** Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi extended his
$7.2 billion offer to take over Singapore property and drinks
conglomerate Fraser and Neave Ltd (F&N) for the sixth
time, until Jan. 15.
** Sprint Nextel Corp is under no pressure to raise
its $2 billion offer for Clearwire Corp to beat a
higher bid by Dish Network Corp as it holds several
trump cards it can play to thwart its rival, three sources close
to the matter said.
** BlackRock is to buy Credit Suisse's
exchange-traded fund (ETF) business that will give the U.S.
asset manager greater scale in Europe.
The price tag on the deal, announced on Thursday, was not
disclosed, but two sources familiar with the matter put it at
between $200 million and $300 million.
** Sony Corp has put one of its main buildings in
central Tokyo up for sale in a deal that could raise up to 100
billion yen ($1.14 billion) as the company seeks to sell
non-core assets to boost its balance sheet, five people with
direct knowledge of the deal said.
** General Motors Co's European division Opel is not
up for sale, Steve Girsky, vice chairman of the U.S. car maker,
said on Thursday.
Parent GM will continue to invest in Ruesselsheim-based
Opel, Girsky, who is also head of Opel's supervisory board, said
at an event at the company's Eisenach, Germany-based plant.
** Lafarge, the world's largest cement maker, has
now hit 80 percent of its 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) asset
sale target for 2012 and hopes to meet the remainder soon, it
said.
** Switzerland's Astra Oil Trading (AOT) has won Libya's
sell tender for gasoil for the full year of 2013, traders said.
AOT won the gasoil cargoes at around a $20-22 premium to
Mediterranean gasoil prices, traders said. The company will lift
around 60,000 tonnes of gasoil per month.
** TV station operator Fisher Communications Inc,
under pressure from billionaire investor Mario Gabelli, said it
is exploring strategic alternatives, including a sale.
** Hermes is taking over d'Annonay tannery, one of
its key providers of calf leather, becoming the latest luxury
brand to buy up a supplier in an increasingly competitive
environment for quality raw materials.
** The French state could take part in the purchase of
Alcatel-Lucent's submarine cable unit in a deal aimed
at easing financial pressure on the indebted telecoms gear
maker, French business newspaper Agefi reported.
** Ahli United Bank, Bahrain's largest listed
lender, has sold most of its 33 percent stake in Qatar's Ahli
Bank to sovereign fund Qatar Foundation.
The sale, involving all but 1,000 of Ahli United's 37.38
million shares, still requires the approval of Ahli Bank
shareholders, an Ahli Bank filing to the Qatar bourse said.
** Shares in Italian defence group Finmeccanica
rose for the second day on Thursday after a report said
negotiations on the sale of its AnsaldoEnergia unit are warming
up.
** Finnish forest group UPM-Kymmene said it was
looking for a buyer for its sawmill in Pestovo, Russia, as it
seeks to improve profitability in its timber business.
UPM, one of Europe's leading sawn timber companies, said it
also plans to cut Pestovo mill's output to a level that only
fulfils existing contracts.
** Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas group has agreed to a deal
that could see it take a stake in the Nabucco pipeline to
transport the country's gas to Europe, boosting the project's
chances against a rival plan.
** China Investment Corp, the country's sovereign
wealth fund, is among three big funds competing for a stake in
Australian dairy producer Van Diemen's Land, a newspaper
reported.
** The second largest U.S. pension fund decided to sell its
investments in manufacturers of firearms that are banned in
California, like the assault rifle used in the Newtown,
Connecticut, school massacre.
** Private equity firm CVC is in exclusive talks to
buy a majority stake in SPi Global Holdings, a business
outsourcing unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co
, for about $320 million including debt, a source
familiar with the matter told Reuters.
** Copper and gold miner PanAust Ltd is Australia's
top contender to be taken over in 2013 in another year likely to
be dominated by acquisitions of resource companies, according to
an annual report from JP Morgan's specialist sales desk.
** India's Punj Lloyd Ltd stepped up its offer for
the construction business of Macmahon Holdings Ltd,
looking to trump a current deal with Leighton Holdings Ltd
.
