Hanbury Davies Containers has acquired the Ipswich port haulage operations of DFDS Transport, with the transfer of 105 staff and 80 vehicles.... [more]

RB Farquhar has sold its Scottish housebuilding arm to a management buy-out for £5.3m, creating a new company with 30 staff called Deveron Homes.... [more]

Zetters has sold its football pools business to Sportech for £1.4m, in order to focus on spread-betting and financial market-making. ... [more]

Albert Fisher's receivers have sold its seafood processing operations in Fraserburgh and Peterhead to Macrae's, which will involve the transfer of 770 staff.... [more]

Aegon of the Netherlands has acquired the independent advisory operations of Advisory & Brokerage Services, the London-based firm with 65 staff.... [more]

A number of bidders are vying for Ovaltine, the malt extract drink being sold by Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceuticals company. It is expected to fetch up to 350m Euros. Nestle, Legal & General Ventures... [more]

Private equity firms and healthcare groups are in competition for Ontex, the sanitary product company. With 2001 worldwide sales of £462m, the company could fetch around £300m.... [more]

European Motor Holdings has sold Normand Eurotrucks, its remaining Mercedes-Benz business, to DaimlerChrysler UK Retail for £0.8m. ... [more]

Rexam has completed the sale of two Danish plastic containers businesses - Rexam Holmia and Rexam Closures & Containers - to Polimoon Holding of Denmark for £7.2m.... [more]

WPP has acquired Gambit AS, the Norwegian public relations agency with 22 staff, in order to expand its Hill & Knowlton subsidiary.... [more]

Squirrel Storage has acquired the storage and archiving business of London-based Project Group Services for undisclosed terms.... [more]

Lookers has acquired Elt Brothers, the Birmingham-based Vauxhall car dealership for £0.9m.... [more]

Numerica has acquired Chantrey Vellacott DFK's Thames Valley business recovery practice, which is based in Marlow, for £1.1m.... [more]

Forth Ports has acquired Grainfax, the Port of Dundee-based company that specialises in the storage, drying and testing of grain.... [more]

Ford has sold its Kwik-Fit chain of 2,500 car repair centres to CVC Capital Partners for £330m.... [more]

Inchcape is to acquire the Gowrings Ford dealerships in Wokingham and Bracknell for £3.9m.... [more]

Johnston Group, the mini-conglomerate, is facing a break-up challenge from shareholders, which would see its construction division being put up for sale.... [more]

Orange, the mobile arm of France Telecom, is considering the futureof its operations in the Nordic countries. It is thought that it may intend to merge the Swedish and Danish businesses with those of... [more]

Ikea's founder, Ingvar Kamprad, has commented that a sale of the furniture chain Habitat may be on the cards. There has been interest from a number of potential purchasers.... [more]

It has been commented that Mothercare, the mother and baby goods retailer, may have a number of interested parties and it is thought that several may be poised to make bids.... [more]