The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 1000 GMT on Thursday:

** The board of U.S. hotel owner LaSalle Hotel Properties on Wednesday sided with Pebblebrook Hotel Trust’s takeover proposal, ditching a $4.8 billion all-cash offer from private equity firm Blackstone Group LP.

** U.S. TV station owner Tribune Media Co is kicking off a new round of talks to sell itself after its planned $3.9 billion sale to peer Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc failed to get regulatory clearance, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

** Buyout giant Blackstone Group LP said it was willing to lift its bid for Australian landlord Investa Office Fund to A$3.3 billion ($2.4 billion), to beat a rival offer from Canada’s Oxford Properties Group.

** Novartis AG said it would sell the dermatology and generic U.S. oral solids portfolios of Sandoz U.S. to India’s Aurobindo Pharma Ltd for $900 million, as the Swiss drugmaker looks to focus on higher growth areas.

** China’s Anbang Insurance Group has picked JPMorgan to manage the 1.4-1.8 billion euro ($1.6-$2 billion) sale of its Dutch insurance arm Vivat, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

** A tie-up between Atlantia and Spanish road-toll operator Abertis will proceed as planned, the deputy chairman of Atlantia’s top shareholder told a newspaper, dismissing worries it could be scrapped after a bridge disaster last month.

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** Finnish sporting goods maker Amer Sports late on Wednesday put its Mavic cycling business up for possible sale and said it would at a later stage also assess strategic options for its fitness equipment and sports watch businesses.

** CatchMark Timber Trust Inc, a real-estate company investing in timberlands, said it was evaluating an all-stock offer to buy Phaunos Timber Fund Ltd, a closed-ended investment company that is winding down its business.

** EasyJet is still engaged in discussions with the Italian government over Alitalia’s short-haul operations but any deal needs to make commercial sense, the low-cost carrier’s boss said.

** A Brazilian unit of AES Corp is considering a bid for a wind farm owned by Renova Energia SA, the chief executive officer for AES Tietê Energia SA said on Wednesday.

** Brazilian healthcare provider Notre Dame Intermedica Participações SA said on Wednesday in a securities filing that it intends to acquire smaller rival Green Line Group.

** New Zealand infrastructure investor Infratil Ltd affirmed that its NZ$2.30 per share buyout offer for wind farms operator Tilt Renewables Ltd was “reasonable and fair.”

** Australia’s competition watchdog raised concerns about the planned Franco-German rail merger of Alstom and Siemens, which it said would create by far the largest supplier of heavy rail signalling in Australia.

** Delta Air Lines has hired two investment banks to offer a stake in its Monroe Energy refining subsidiary, signaling it wants a partner to shoulder the risk of running an energy business.