The Croatian generic drug specialist Pliva Pharmaceuticals has acquired Soble Holdings, a US healthcare business, for $212m.... [more]

BAM NBM, the largest Dutch building company, has bid 715m Euros for the construction company Hollansche Beton Group, owned by Spanish Firm Dragados. The deal could make way for ACS, a smaller Spanish ... [more]

It is speculated that the flotation of Thomson Corp, the specialist media group, signals a plan to buy a competitor. Potential targets could include Reuters Group and Bloomberg.... [more]

It has been commented that the travel group First Choice may make a bid for its competitor MyTravel (previously Airtours), after a ruling made in 1999 by the European Commission was recently overturne... [more]

The Royal Bank of Canada has proposed that the electricity transmission networks of the Northern Ireland power company, Viridian, should be sold to a non-profit making company.The plan is aimed at red... [more]

London Scottish Bank is seeking an acquisition in excess of £50m to increase its consumer credit and factoring businesses.... [more]

The yoghurts and spreads divisions of St Ivel have been put up for sale by the foods group Uniq. A number of prospective bidders have shown interest in the yoghurts business. The spreads division is l... [more]

Taylor Nelson Sofres has acquired Evaliant Media Resources, the US-based provider of online advertising data with 17 staff.... [more]

Wagon is to sell its storage systems business to private equity group Whittan Investments for £60m, in order to focus on the manufacture of large vehicle structures.... [more]

Royal & Sun Alliance is to sell its Isle of Man-based life assurance operations to Friends Provident for £133m, as part of a strategy to focus on general insurance.... [more]

Dolphin Telecom, the developer of a radio communications network, has been bought out of administration by Inquam for £25m.... [more]

Morgan Grenfell Private Equity has been unable to find a buyer for the bookmaker Coral, on the market with an asking price of £750m. It is speculated that the company will have to refinance and try fo... [more]

The chemicals and precious metals group Johnson Matthey has expressed interest in the catalyst business being sold by Imperial Chemical Industries, Synetix. A price tag of £200m-300m is expected.... [more]

The German semiconductor group Infineon is discussing the purchase of the micoelectronics division of the Swedish company Ericsson. The division had a turnover of $236m last year and that figure is t... [more]

Bankgesellschaft Berlin, the financial institution controlled by the Berlin authorities, has a number of bidders who have been invited to submit offers. Schroder Salomon Smith Barney is advising on th... [more]

The resignation of Tyco Laboratories' Chairman and Chief Executive, Dennis Kozlowski has sparked a debate over the future of the company. It is said that the company will almost certainly break up, be... [more]

It is commented that the key to unlocking value from Securicor will be the sale of its distribution division. The sale could generate proceeds of £100m- £150m.... [more]

A number of US media companies are preparing joint bids for the assets of KirschMedia, the rights and television business. If the sale fails to go ahead, KirschMedia will be put under administration,... [more]

Joint receivers KPMG have suspended operations at Albert Fisher in Kins Lynn. There have been several interested parties in the sale of the frozen vegetable division, but none have gone through with t... [more]

Beshara Press of Tewkesbury and sister company CentrePoint of Nottingham are to be acquired by Midlands Publishing Holdings.... [more]