Deals of the day- Mergers and acquisitions

Sat, 08 Feb - 7:02am

(Adds PSA Peugeot, Aaron's Inc, Telecom Italia, Ceva Sante Animale, UniCredit, KKR)

Feb 7 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2100 GMT on Friday:

** PSA Peugeot Citroen PEUP.PA negotiators and French government officials are leaving for China this weekend, sources familiar with the matter said, for what they hope will be a final round of tie-up negotiations with Dongfeng Motor Group

0489.HK .

Peugeot and joint-venture partner Dongfeng are in the final straight of talks on a deal that would see the Chinese carmaker and French government take matching stakes in the Paris-based company through a 3 billion euro ($4.1 billion) share issue.

News Search ID:nL5N0LC3GH

** Aaron's Inc AAN.N shareholder Vintage Capital Management said it offered to buy the electronics and furniture rental chain in a deal valued at about $2.3 billion, its fourth attempt to buy the company in three years. News Search ID:nL3N0LC4M6

** Italian phone group Telecom Italia TLIT.MI denied media speculation that it was in talks to merge its prized wireless unit TIM Brasil TIMP3.SA with Vivendi's VIV.PA Brazilian subsidiary GVT. News Search ID:nL5N0LC38S

** The sale of a minority stake in French veterinary health company Ceva Sante Animale is set to attract bids from several buyout groups, three people familiar with the situation said.

BC Partners Href="NewsSearch">BCPRT.UL , Charterhouse Href="NewsSearch">CHCAP.UL , Cinven

Href="NewsSearch">CINV.UL , CVC Href="NewsSearch">CVC.UL , Hellman & Friedman and KKR KKR.N have shown interest and may submit offers by a late-February deadline, they added. News Search ID:nL5N0LC2AS

** Italy's UniCredit CRDI.MI is looking for partners interested in its unit that manages problematic debt for the group and other entities and will ask for bids by the end of this month, two sources close to the matter said on Friday.

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** Private equity firm KKR & Co LP KKR.N said on Friday it would acquire National Vision Inc from buyout firm Berkshire Partners LLC in a bet that consumers would increasingly seek out the budget retailer's low-price contact lenses and eyeglasses.

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** Chile's CFR Pharmaceuticals CFR.SN dropped its $1.2 billion bid for South African drugmaker Adcock Ingram AIPJ.J on Friday, thwarted by Adcock's top shareholder, Bidvest

BVTJ.J , in its attempt to get into fast-growing African markets. News Search ID:nL5N0LC255

** Malaysian oil and gas industry services firm SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd SKPE.KL is setting up a joint-venture after-sales service company for oil industry power plants with a local subsidiary of General Electric GE.N , it said on Friday. News Search ID:nL3N0LC3X6

** South Africa's Tiger Brands TBSJ.J is seeking to raise its stake in the Nigerian Dangote Flour Mills DANFLO.LG through a takeover bid, a notice by its financial advisor said.

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** IBM Corp IBM.N is exploring the sale of its semiconductor business and has hired Goldman Sachs GS.N to find potential buyers, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter. News Search ID:nL3N0LC0C9

** U.S. private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP

CBS.UL has completed a sale of its stake in Japanese property operator Kokusai Kogyo Co for about 140 billion yen ($1.37 billion), people with knowledge of the deal said.

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** Russia's top natural gas producer, Gazprom GAZP.MM , is taking part in tenders to buy two power plants in France owned by Austrian energy group Verbund VERB.VI , a Gazprom spokesman said on Friday. News Search ID:nL5N0LC14Y

** Betting company Betsson BETSb.ST said that it was buying online gaming group Oranje and Kroon in a move to get a strong foothold in the Dutch market ahead of expected new regulations in 2015. News Search ID:nL5N0LC1GX

** State-run Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) 036460.KS has submitted a plan to the South Korean government to sell some of its stake in Iraq's Akkas gas field in 2015 or later, the company told the stock exchange in a filing on Friday.

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** Noble Energy Corp NBL.N said on Thursday that it finalized an agreement to sell part of its interest in a massive Israeli natural gas project to Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd WPL.AX for $1.03 billion in cash and future revenues.

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** Canadian heavy oil producer Baytex Energy Corp BTE.TO has agreed to buy Aurora Oil & Gas Ltd AUT.AX for C$2.6 billion ($2.35 billion) including debt, targeting the Australian company's Texas shale oil assets.

($1 = 101.8600 Japanese yen)

($1 = 1.1062 Canadian dollars)

(Compiled by Anannya Pramanick and Rohit T.K. in Bangalore)

((anannya.pramanick@thomsonreuters.com)(within U.S. +1 646 223 8780, outside U.S. +91 80 6749 3143)(Reuters Messaging: anannya.pramanick.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: DEALS DAY/

URN: 
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