The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 1300 GMT on Thursday:
** Italian toll-road operator Atlantia has tapped banks to finance an upcoming cash-and-share bid for Spanish rival Abertis, sources told Reuters, as it seeks to create an industry giant with a market value of more than 35 billion euros ($38 billion).
** Bankers are working on debt financings of around 1.1 billion euros to back a potential sale of French nursing home company DomusVi, banking sources said.
** Austrian energy and petrol station group OMV is to buy a 40-percent stake in Smatrics, a company that provides charging points for electric cars, owned by hydropower firm Verbund and Germany's Siemens, the Austrian companies said.
** John Fredriksen's Frontline is switching its legal battle for control of tanker operator DHT Holdings from New York to the tiny Marshall Islands after making a fifth offer for the company this week.
** Exiger, a firm that helps businesses monitor compliances such as money laundering regulations, has agreed to buy Canadian startup OutsideIQ for C$30 million ($22.17 million), according to a person familiar with the agreement.
** RWE is not planning to sell additional shares in its Innogy IGY.DE unit at the moment, its chief executive said, dashing expectations for a large deal that were fuelled by a media report last month.
** Hungarian businessman Tamas Szemerey plans to boost his stake in MKB Bank and is looking at more acquisitions in the sector after taking a 20.2 percent indirect stake in MKB, he told newspaper Magyar Idok.
** Assicurazioni Generali does not consider as strategic a 3 percent holding in Intesa Sanpaolo it bought to fend off a potential stake-building by the Italian bank, its chief executive said.
** The loss of a multi-billion dollar contract with Anthem Inc comes with a silver lining for some shareholders of Express Scripts Holding Co: a higher likelihood that the pharmaceutical benefits manager (PBM) gets scooped up in a deal.
** German chemicals giant BASF said it would continue to push for acquisitions to shore up its crop protection business, after the antitrust-related sale of assets from the merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont left it empty-handed.
** Italian railways group Ferrovie dello Stato has not been contacted about taking a stake in loss-making airline Alitalia and at the moment has no interest in riding to its rescue, a spokesman for the state-owned company said.
** Lufthansa said it was not interested in buying Italian rival Alitalia, whose future is unclear after workers this week ruled out a rescue plan.
** Intesa Sanpaolo does not have a plan B for loss-making Italian carrier Alitalia and it is not the lender's business to manage airlines, its chief executive Carlo Messina said.
** Acquisition talks between Beijing Xinwei Technology Group and Israeli satellite operator Space Communications remain frozen, a senior Spacecom official was quoted as saying.
** Israeli real estate developer Gazit-Globe said its wholly owned subsidiary Gazit Brasil bought the remaining 30 percent stake it didn't own in the Extra Itaim property in Sao Paulo for 94 million reais ($30 million).
** Swedish investment firm Kinnevik said it had bought an 18.5 percent stake in Swedish cable-tv firm Com Hem as it presented its first-quarter report.
** Cenovus Energy Inc won about 87 percent of shareholders' votes for its board of director slate on Wednesday, below previous near-unanimous approvals, as some voters protested the company's C$17 billion ($12.6 billion) purchase of ConocoPhillips assets.
** Mexican telecoms company America Movil has submitted its proposal for separating a part of its fixed-line unit Telmex from the rest of the company, and expects approval in coming months, a company executive said Wednesday.
** Clariant AG is still scanning for small- or mid-sized acquisitions but is not dependent on takeovers to meet its mid-term targets for boosting profitability and return on capital, Chief Financial Officer Patrick Jany said. (Compiled by Tamara Mathias in Bengaluru)
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