Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions

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

.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/deals-day-mergers-acquisitions-103947554--sector.html

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