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]

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]

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]

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

Yell has agreed to acquire McLeod US Publishing, the US directories business, for £414m... [more]

Apax Partners has pulled out of a bid for Baltimore Technologies' Content Technologies business after shares fell recently. Baltimore Technologies, an internet security group, insists that there are s... [more]

Argonaut Games has acquired Particle Systems, the Sheffield-based computer games developer with 40 staff, for £2.4m.... [more]

Cambridge Antibody Technology is to acquire Drug Royalty Corporation of Canada for £55m.... [more]

QuadraNet is to acquire Accronym Holdings, the developer of operational software for health clubs, for £1.5m.... [more]

Aggreko has acquired Compressores Esteve, the Spanish generator rental company with net assets of £0.3m.... [more]

Pubmaster has acquired Pub.com for £17m, taking its chain of Scottish pubs from 33 to 71, and is now in talks to buy another chain of 20 pubs for £5m.... [more]

Esporta, the fitness club operator, has confirmed that it has received several approaches from potential bidders after warning on profits for the second time in three months. Whitbread, owner of the D... [more]

Smartlogik has bought Insight Technologies, the Surrey-based developer of knowledge capture software, out of administration for £0.3m.... [more]

Aegis has acquired two US interactive media agencies for £1.9m - San Francisco-based Lot 21 and Massachusetts-based Vizium.... [more]

Simon Group, the ports and logistics company, has put itself up for sale, following pressure from shareholders. Associated British Ports, the UK's largest port operator, is interested in bidding for H... [more]