Deals of the day- Mergers and acquisitions

(Adds Telekom Austria, Bezeq Israel Telecom,)

March 26 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 1330 GMT on Wednesday:

** Facebook Inc FB.O will acquire two-year-old Oculus VR Inc, a maker of virtual-reality glasses for gaming, for $2 billion, buying its way into the fast-growing wearable devices arena with its first-ever hardware deal. News Search ID:nL4N0MM4IP

** Blackstone Group LP BX.N is close to a deal to buy industrial conglomerate Gates Global Inc for more than $5.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said, in what would be one of the largest leveraged buyouts so far this year.

News Search ID:nL1N0MM21I

** Austria is close to a deal to pool its Telekom Austria

TELA.VI stake with that of Carlos Slim's America Movil

AMXL.MX , Rudolf Kemler, the head of state holding company OIAG and Telekom Austria chairman, said on Wednesday. News Search ID:nL5N0MN2FP

** Israel's anti-trust authority said on Wednesday it will allow Bezeq Israel Telecom BEZQ.TA to merge with its satellite TV provider YES. News Search ID:nL5N0MN2R8

** Coal miner Asia Resource Minerals (ARMS) ARMS.L on Tuesday announced its long-awaited split with the Indonesian family that helped found it, sparking bitter posts on Twitter between a family member and fellow ARMS founder Nat Rothschild.

News Search ID:nL4N0MM2PP

** AstraZeneca AZN.L has raised its bet on Japan's drug market by buying out the remaining stake held by Sumitomo Chemical 4005.T in its Japanese unit AstraZeneca K.K.

News Search ID:nL5N0MN193

** The New Zealand government said it would sell up to 49 percent of power company Genesis Energy Ltd Href="NewsSearch">GEPWR.UL , earning it up to NZ$800 million ($684.5 million) from the sale.

News Search ID:nL4N0MM4ZT

** Standard Life SL.L has bought Ignis Asset Management for 390 million pounds ($644 million), increasing the amount of money it manages by one third as it shifts its business to fund management from insurance. News Search ID:nL5N0MN19A

** Malaysia's Ranhill Energy signed on Wednesday an agreement for a reverse takeover of outsourcing services firm Symphony House SYMP.KL , paving its way to the local bourse after scrapping a planned listing in July 2013. News Search ID:nL4N0MN26F

** China's Citic Pacific Ltd 0267.HK is planning to acquire assets from its state-owned parent Citic Group Corp

Href="NewsSearch">CITIC.UL , Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the situation. News Search ID:nL4N0MN264

** Britain sold 4.2 billion pounds ($6.93 billion) of shares in Lloyds Banking Group LLOY.L to cut its stake in the country's largest retail bank to under 25 percent and put it on course for a complete exit in the next year at a profit.

News Search ID:nL5N0MN18Y

** Norwegian telecom firm Telenor TEL.OL has sold its business providing encryption and content security for digital TV to Switzerland's Kudelski KUD.S for 1.5 billion crowns ($248 million), Telenor said on Wednesday. News Search ID:nL5N0MN0YM

** Qatar Islamic Bank QISB.QA has entered into exclusive discussions to acquire a stake in Turkey's Bank Asya ASYAB.IS , the Qatari lender said on Wednesday. News Search ID:nL5N0MN0ZE

** The Australian government said it would sell state-owned health insurer Medibank Private in a public float, which local media have tipped could fetch about A$4 billion ($3.66 billion), but added the structure of the sale was yet to be decided.

News Search ID:nL4N0MN164

** Carlyle Group LP CG.O is considering buying a traditional money manager to broaden its own investment platform, as the private equity firm tries to attract more retail investors and achieve the higher stock market valuation commanded by such managers, according to sources familiar with the situation.

($1 = 1.17 New Zealand dollars)

($1 = 0.61 British pounds)

($1 = 1.09 Australian dollars)

(Compiled by Neha Dimri in Bangalore)

((Neha.Dimri@thomsonreuters.com)(within U.S. +1 646 223 8780)(outside U.S. +91 80 6749 1130)(Reuters Messaging: neha.dimri.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: DEALS DAY/