Deals of the day-Mergers and acquisitions

(Adds Micro Focus, HCL, Wynn Resorts; updates Thyssenkrupp, Genuine Parts)

April 12 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Thursday:

** General Electric Co is exploring a public offering for one of its divisions and discussing hybrid deals with public companies to combine assets, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

** British Airways-owner IAG said it is considering making an offer for Norwegian, a low-cost carrier worth about $1.2 billion, in a deal which would expand its budget offerings and give it control of a struggling rival.

** Walmart Inc is likely to reach a deal to buy a majority stake in Indian e-commerce player Flipkart by the end of June in what could be the U.S. retail giant's biggest acquisition of an online business, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

** Britain's takeover regulator ruled that Walt Disney must make an offer for the whole of Sky if it succeeds in buying Twenty-First Century Fox assets, including its 39 percent stake in the European pay-TV company.

** Takeda Pharmaceutical has sounded out its major creditors for loans, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, as it moves closer to a bid for London-listed rare disease specialist Shire that could hit $50 billion.

** Spain's Banco Sabadell is in talks to sell two toxic real estate asset portfolios worth around 7.5 billion euros ($9.27 billion), a source with knowledge of the deal said.

** Genuine Parts Co said it would spin off its wholesale distribution business S.P. Richards and merge it with Essendant in a tax-free transaction for shareholders, as it focuses on its industrial and auto parts businesses.

** A steel joint venture between Thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel will be delayed by ongoing talks between the Indian group and its British and Dutch workers, the German company said.

** Casino operator Wynn Resorts Ltd is in talks to sell its partially built Boston Harbor resort to rival MGM Resorts International, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

** Micro Focus shares surged, with traders citing a Bloomberg report that hedge fund Elliott Management has taken a stake in the UK software firm.

** Danish shipping company DFDS has agreed to acquire Turkish freight shipping operator U.N. Ro-Ro from Turkish private equity firms Actera Group and Esas Holdings for 950 million euros ($1.17 billion) on a debt free basis.

** GlaxoSmithKline is divesting its rare disease gene therapy drugs to Orchard Therapeutics, it said, as Chief Executive Emma Walmsley makes good on her promise to prune the drugmaker's pharmaceuticals portfolio.

** Indian IT services company HCL Technologies Ltd and private equity firm Sumeru Equity Partners will buy U.S. data management firm Actian Corp in a $330 million deal, the companies said.

** Europe's biggest utility Enel is actively looking for mid-size acquisitions of mainly regulated assets outside Europe, with Latin America a focus, its chief executive told Reuters.

** The U.S. Justice Department called an economist on Wednesday to testify that allowing AT&T to purchase movie and TV production company Time Warner would cost consumers hundreds of millions of dollars, as the government wrapped up efforts to convince a federal judge to halt the proposed deal.

** British gambling technology company Playtech said it agreed to buy a 70.6 percent stake in Italian betting and gaming firm Snaitech for 291 million euros ($359.2 million) in cash, in a move to source most of its revenue from regulated markets.

** U.S. co-working space provider WeWork Cos said it would buy China-based rival Naked Hub to boost its footprint in the world's second largest economy.

** British bus and rail operator FirstGroup has rejected a takeover approach from U.S. private equity firm Apollo Global Management, becoming the latest company to be swept up by a wave of bids in the UK.

** Malaysian investment holding firm IHH Healthcare Bhd plans to bid for India's Fortis Healthcare Ltd at a price marginally better than Manipal Hospitals Enterprises Pvt Ltd's offer, Bloomberg reported, citing people aware of the matter.

** Denmark's Financial Services Authority has approved Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group's offer to buy a majority stake in the Denmark's Saxo Bank, which develops and operates online trading platforms.

** China's HNA Group is selling Hawker Pacific, an aircraft management services firm, to General Dynamics Corp unit Jet Aviation for $250 million, the latest in a long line of asset sales for the debt-laden conglomerate.

** Bank Hapoalim, Israel's largest lender, has signed a deal to sell most of its private banking business in Switzerland and Luxembourg to the J. Safra Sarasin Group for 20-23 million Swiss francs ($21-$24 million).

** Troubled South African retailer Steinhoff, raised 3.75 billion rand ($314 million) from the sale of a 6 percent stake in Steinhoff Africa Retail (STAR), another step in its efforts to shore up its finances and pay down debt.

** China International Capital Corp Ltd (CICC) said its biggest shareholder, Central Huijin Investment Co, has put up for sale a roughly 9.5 percent stake in the company worth about 5 billion yuan ($796.80 million).

** Maersk Drilling and Maersk Supply Service, both part of Danish shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk, said they will establish a joint venture to provide decommissioning services to oil and gas operators.

** Swiss pumpmaker Sulzer is free of U.S. sanctions after authorities approved its buyback of shares that has reduced Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg's stake to less than 50 percent, it said. (Compiled by Mrinalini Krothapalli and Akankshita Mukhopadhyay in Bengaluru)