Woods Car Rental of Reigate has been acquired by Budget Car & Van Rental for undisclosed terms... [more]

Peter Black is acquiring Hexel International the supplier of own-label toiletries and other products to retailers for £19m... [more]

Deans Food Group has acquired Daylay Foods the former chicken and egg subsidiary of Hillsdown... [more]

NSB Retail Systems the supplier of retailing software has acquired Real Time Control for £74m... [more]

Johnson Service the dry-cleaning company is planning to acquire Semara for £95m as part of a strategy to expand its textile rental business... [more]

Artisan the housebuilder has acquired Bickerton in a £7.5m all-share deal... [more]

Travis Perkins is expanding its network of builders merchants to 460 through the £25m acquisition of three more regional chains in Scotland Devon and Cumbria... [more]

Ugland International has sold its vehicle shipping business to joint venture partner Leif Hoegh for £144m... [more]

Marconi has sold its Network Components & Services business in Europe and China to Viasystems of the US for £70m as part of a strategy to focus on telecoms and other high technology operations... [more]

Hidden Hearing the Kent-based manufacturer of hearing aids has agreed to a £23m takeover offer from William Demant of Denmark... [more]

Dixons has acquired Ei System Computer the Spanish computer retailer with 12 stores for £16m... [more]

Arriva is to acquire MTL the Merseyside bus company for £35m which will increase its bus fleet by 970 to about 7000... [more]

Co-operative Wholesale Society is to merge with the Co-operative Retail Society in April creating a combined group with more than 1000 stores and 50000 employees... [more]

BTP the fine chemicals company has agreed to a £1.1bn takeover offer from Clariant of Switzerland... [more]

FKI is to acquire SNE Systems the US supplier of control systems to the materials handling industry for up to £24m... [more]

Hays is to acquire EPS the Banbury-based supplier of services to mobile phone operators for £55m... [more]

Mitel Semiconductor of Lincoln has been acquired by Dynex Power of Canada in a £5m deal that will safeguard more than 300 jobs. ... [more]

Grampian Holdings has sold its Glenmuir golfwear business to management in order to focus on its Edinburgh Woollen Mill and Malcolm Group operations... [more]

Software Box the York-based software supplier has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms... [more]

EMI is planning a £12bn merger with Time Warner in order to create the largest music group in the world... [more]