Asquith Court is to merge with Kids Unlimited, creating a combined group of 145 day nurseries under the name of Nursery Years Group... [more]

Associated British Foods has acquired Burns Philp, the Australian yeast, herbs and spices company, for £730m... [more]

Hawkshead, the outdoor clothing retailer with 12 stores and 16 concessions, has undergone a management buy-in from Retail Variations for undisclosed terms... [more]

First-half losses have narrowed at Egg but the internet bank gave no indication on whether a sale was imminent. JP Morgan Chase has emerged as the latest potential bidder for Egg, which could be worth... [more]

Highams Systems Services is to acquire RWP, the IT recruitment company, for £2m... [more]

Center Parcs is to sell its 3D children's activity holiday business to PGL for £12m... [more]

Legal & General Ventures is to acquire Total Fitness, the chain of fitness clubs, for about £80m... [more]

Minerva, the property company behind plans to build the City's highest building, is to begin talks with parties interested in buying the business. The company said it had received numerous approaches ... [more]

JP Morgan Chase is currently in talks to decide whether to proceed with a £1.4bn bid for Egg, the internet bank put up for sale in January. The close of Egg's French arm, which cost £280m on the vent... [more]

London's biggest hotel chain, Thistle, plans to sell six hotels here, the group's Singapore-based parent BIL said. BIL said investment bank UBS would assist with the sale of its Bloomsbury Park, Barbi... [more]

Permira, the private equity vehicle bidding for WH Smith, is unsure whether to proceed with its delayed bid for the newsagent group. Executives are locked in talks with backers but it remains unclear ... [more]

NTL, the telecoms and cable TV group, will possibly put its broadcast business up for sale within the next few months with an asking price of about £1bn. NTL, which tried to sell the broadcast busines... [more]

Resolution Life Group has completed the financing for a planned £875m acquisition of Royal & Sun Alliance's struggling life-assurance arm. The investment vehicle, set up by Clive Cowdery, former GE In... [more]

Regus has agreed to acquire HQ Global, the US serviced office company with 263 sites, for £163m... [more]

Royal & Sun Alliance has sold its general insurance operations in Pakistan to International General Insurance for £0.7m... [more]

Havelock Europa is to acquire Clean Air, the Bolton-based educational supplies company, for up to £6.3m... [more]

First Choice has acquired StudentCity, the US-based student holidays company, for £23m... [more]

Aviva has sold its Your Move estate agency and surveying operations to a management buy-out backed by Barclays Private Equity for £42m... [more]

Specsavers has acquired Tva Bla, the Swedish chain of 19 opticians with annual sales of £9m... [more]

Mackays Stores is planning to expand its chain of 260 discount fashion stores with 50 new outlets... [more]