Friends Ivory & Sime (FIS) the fund management firm is considering further purchases once the dust from the acquisition of the fund management arm of Royal & Sun Alliance has settled.... [more]

The Italian Treasury is to privatise the state-owned tobacco company, Eti. It is hoped that the sale will raise around 1.5bn Euros (£947m). BAT and Japan Tobacco, along with a number of Italian invest... [more]

Multi Group has acquired Westminster Event Hire, the Oxfordshire-based industrial catering equipment hire company, for £0.4m.... [more]

Park Group has acquired Cable Cashpoint, the cheque cashing business, and its revolving credit affiliate Cash Reserve, from Dundee-based Robert Cable & Co for £0.7m.... [more]

Bertelsmann is considering the sale of its UK assets, which include a 65% stake in television's Channel 5. It has been suggested that Rupert Murdoch may be interested in the deal.... [more]

Genetix, which makes robots that can screen human genes and proteins to help drug design, is looking to make acquisitions to help boost its financial performance.... [more]

Royal & Sun Alliance is to sell its Bristol-based group risk protection business to Canada Life for £60m, which will involve the transfer of about 200 staff.... [more]

SIG has expanded its insulation and roofing products business with the £5.9m acquisition of four companies, adding 16 new trading locations. ... [more]

Tornado Virtue has acquired Streamway Netcasting, the online corporate communications company with annual turnover of £0.6m.... [more]

Bertelsmann, the German Media group, is thought to be putting its academic publishing business, Bertelsmann Springer, up for sale this autumn. The business has sales of around £500m and could fetch an... [more]

Consignia is considering the sale of the Post Office and Royal mail group's overseas operations. The deal could fetch up to £500m.... [more]

Connaught is to acquire GasForce, the Chorley-based commercial gas appliance maintenance company with 390 staff, for £22m.... [more]

Graphite Capital has acquired a 62% stake in PIFC, the pensions advisory firm, for £17m, in order to benefit from the expected rise in demand for pensions advice as more companies look for alternative... [more]

Alliance & Leicester has sold its credit card business to MBNA of the US for £225m, but will continue to sell cards in an outsourcing arrangement with MBNA.... [more]

Prices Patent Candle Company, the operator of 14 candle shops, has been bought out of administration by Cereria Sgarbi of Italy for undisclosed terms, securing the future of 150 jobs.... [more]

Watermark Group is to acquire Update International, the Hong Kong-based supplier of customer service items to airlines, for £2.4m.... [more]

Music Choice Europe has acquired Multiradio, the distributor of music channels through digital TV, from Orbus for £0.6m.... [more]

Swiss Life, the life assurer, is thought to be trying to raise funds by selling off its German operations and its Swiss private bank, Banca del Gottardo. Deutsche Bank and Golman Sachs have been appoi... [more]

Boots is to sell Halfords, the chain of 400 car parts and cycle stores, to CVC Capital Partners for up to £427m, which will involve the transfer of all 9,800 staff and the head office in Redditch.... [more]

Diageo has agreed to sell its Burger King fast food business to a consortium that includes Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners for about £1.4bn.... [more]