The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 1100 GMT on Wednesday:

** Hitachi Ltd is in final stages of talks to buy Switzerland based ABB Ltd’s power grid business for about 800 billion yen ($7.05 billion), the Nikkei business daily reported.

** Kazakh state-controlled telecommunications firm Kazakhtelecom is buying a 75 percent stake in local mobile operator Kcell, from Sweden’s Telia TELIA.ST and Turkcell, Kazakhtelecom and Telia said.

** Sainsbury’s and Asda, the two British supermarkets that are trying to merge, said they wanted more time to provide and consider all the evidence in the competition investigation into the deal.

** China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co has put up its 35 percent stake in Chengdu Rural Commercial Bank for sale with a price tag of 16.8 billion yuan ($2.44 billion), according to a filing to the Beijing Financial Assets Exchange.

** Australian pathology and radiology group Sonic Healthcare Ltd said it had agreed to buy Florida-based Aurora Diagnostics LLC for $540 million.

** U.S. battery maker Energizer Holdings gained EU antitrust approval on Tuesday for its $2-billion bid for Spectrum Brands’ battery and portable lighting business after agreeing to sell a Spectrum unit in Europe.

** Dell Technologies Inc said on Tuesday it has received shareholder approval for its earlier announced deal to buy back shares tied to its interest in software maker VMware, paving the way for it to return to the market.

** Buyout firm L Catterton said on Tuesday it has agreed to acquire Cholula, a privately held hot sauce producer whose investors include Mexican tequila producer Jose Cuervo , in a bet that zesty condiments will continue to become more popular with U.S. consumers.

** New Zealand’s top online marketplace Trade Me Group is set to be acquired by private equity investor Apax for NZ$2.56 billion ($1.8 billion) after the British firm matched a rival offer.

** Alstom and Siemens
** The takeover of Kazakh mobile operator Kcell by Kazakhtelecom values Kcell at $615 million, Kazakhtelecom chief executive Kuanyshbek Yesekeyev said.

** Spanish banks Unicaja and Liberbank both confirmed preliminary contacts on a potential corporate operation.

** Norway’s DNO is sticking to its offer to buy Faroe Petroleum for 152 pence per share, valuing the company at about 610 million pounds ($761.65 million), insisting it is an attractive offer despite its rejection by the Faroe board. (Compiled by Manogna Maddipatla in Bengaluru)