CRH has acquired Shelley the US aggregates group for £226m as part of a strategy to expand its building materials business in the Midwest... [more]

Avro Industries has bought Almond Engineering the Scottish supplier of thermoformed plastic packaging to the food sector... [more]

Gameplay.com is to acquire Computec Media the German publisher of computer magazines for £48m... [more]

Gyrus is to acquire Everest Medical Corporation the US manufacturer of surgical equipment for £32m which will give it access to a 105-strong US salesforce... [more]

Penspen is acquiring Andrew Palmer & Associates the offshore pipeline engineering specialist for £1m... [more]

Royal London the mutual life and pensions group is set to acquire United Assurance in a £1.6bn deal creating an enlarged group with premiums of £1bn and more than 3m customers... [more]

Airtours is acquiring Travel Services International of the US for £240m which will help to improve its internet booking capability... [more]

Wrights of Horwich the Bolton-based wholesaler has been bought out of receivership by Five Star Foods for undisclosed terms... [more]

Alphameric is acquiring Pennine Retail the supplier of IT systems to retailers for £60m... [more]

Holidaybreak is acquiring Explore Worldwide the supplier of adventure holidays for £30m... [more]

Stewart Ivory the fund manager is to be acquired by Colonial First State Investments of Australia for £72m prompting speculation that other smaller Scottish fund managers could also lose their indepen... [more]

Telesmart Developments is to be acquired by Prism Holdings the South African supplier of secure electronic transaction systems for £4.5m. ... [more]

Williams Fasteners has acquired Dunning's Fasteners the Teesside-based supplier of heavy-duty nuts and bolts for undisclosed terms... [more]

Bradford & Bingley is to acquire John Charcoal the mortgage broker for £100m which will give it access to a further 150 independent financial advisers... [more]

Amec has launched an agreed £221m takeover bid for Agra the Canadian environmental and engineering business... [more]

Swift Structures has been acquired by O'Rourke to create a combined concrete contracting group with turnover of more than £300m... [more]

Tibbett & Britten has acquired the TCA group of companies for undisclosed terms in order to expand its fresh produce distribution business in France and Spain... [more]

Tempered Spring the Sheffield-based manufacturer of suspension systems and components has been acquired by Meritor of the US... [more]

Critchley the manufacturer of electronic tagging systems has accepted a £122m takeover bid from Tyco of the US... [more]

Marconi has acquired Australian Communication Solutions the supplier of network design services for £28m... [more]