Royal & SunAlliance is believed to have put its fund management business up for auction. The sale is part of a drive to raise cash to expand its core activities. The business is expected to fetch aro... [more]

Cosalt, the industrial services and leisure products group, is considering the disposal of its caravan and holiday homes unit, as well as its lossmaking lighting division. The company is occupied with... [more]

ML Laboratories, the drug delivery company, is planning to divest all non-core assets, including its inhaler subsidiary, Innovata Biomed. It will also sell or float the DNA production arm of its Cobra... [more]

Merck is selling its distribution arm, Merck-Medco, in a bid to regain investor confidence. It will probably start with an IPO of part of the division by early summer.... [more]

Queercompany, an internet portal aimed at the gay and lesbian market in the UK, has ceased trading and put itself up for sale after using £3.5m of its start up funding. Also for sale is Fable, the gay... [more]

RSM Robson Rhodes have been appointed administrators at Elbief and Richards, the old-established suppliers of textiles, carpets and household goods. Shares were suspended today at 3.5p, valuing the co... [more]

Powergen , the energy group, has taken its combined heat and power business off the market after failing to find a buyer. Analysts put the value of the business, which was not disclosed , at £300m-£40... [more]

Kmart has recently become the biggest US retailer to declare bankruptcy, brought down by a myriad of problems. The bankruptcy filing will allow Kmart to shed some of its worst-performing stores and co... [more]

GlaxoSmithKline will consider selling a large part of its research operations if the rate at which they discover new drugs does not improve over the next few years. ... [more]

Tandem Group has acquired Ben Sayers, the East Lothian-based golf equipment manufacturer, from The Caledonian Golf Group for £1.1m... [more]

Baltimore Technologies has sold its Content Technologies e-mail security division to Clearswift for £21m... [more]

Claims Direct is to acquire Claimline, the personal injury claims specialist, for £1.5m, and has also announced plans to communicate with more customers by post rather than employing claims managers... [more]

Endsleigh Insurance Services, the operator of 129 insurance shops, is planning a management buy-out from Dutch-based Goudse for undisclosed terms... [more]

Biolife Ventures is planning a reverse takeover of Zimed, the North Wales-based developer of an intravenous drip monitoring device... [more]

Carlyle Group, the US private equity firm, is leading a consortium to bid for a major stake in Qinetiq, the former Ministry of Defence laboratories, which the Government plans to privatise. ... [more]

Tower Records, one of the world's largest music retailers, has put its Japanese operations up for sale. Deutsche Bank has been appointed to handle the sale. ... [more]

McInerney Holdings has acquired Charlton Group, the Lancashire-based construction and property development company, for £8m... [more]

Wealth Management Software has sold its estate agency software business to management for £0.2m... [more]

PII Group, the Cramlington-based provider of pipeline inspection services with 1,000 staff worldwide, has been bought from HgCapital by GE Power Systems of the US for undisclosed terms... [more]

Hovat, the Kent-based food packaging company, has undergone a £3m management buy-out, and the subsequent acquisition of Ascom Addressing of Dartford will create one of the country's leading label prin... [more]