(Adds Microsoft, Subway, Orange, Mediobanca)
Feb 14 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers,
acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2030 GMT on Tuesday:
** EU antitrust regulators will decide by March 20 whether
to clear French telecoms provider Orange's $19 billion
bid for Spanish telecoms provider MasMovil, a European
Commission filing showed.
** A financial investor which is not already a shareholder
in Anima Holding has tasked Mediobanca with buying a
stake of up to 9% in the Italian asset manager, the investment
bank said.
** Subway said it was exploring a possible sale of its
business as the sandwich chain faces surging costs and mounting
competition from deeper-pocketed rivals.
** Microsoft will make a last-ditch effort to
defend its $69 billion bid for "Call of Duty" maker Activision
Blizzard in front of EU and national antitrust
officials at a closed hearing on Feb. 21, the U.S. software
company said.
** Goldman Sachs Group Inc has sold its stake in
Russian real estate database Cian <CIAN.N, filings from the
Securities and Exchange Commission showed, without disclosing
the buyer or the fee.
** Investor Pavel Tykac said he could approach MONETA Money
Bank's biggest shareholder PPF to acquire some of its
shares in order to boost his stake in the Czech lender to around
a fifth.
** Finastra, a financial technology company owned by buyout
firm Vista Equity Partners, is exploring a sale of its banking
unit for as much as $7 billion, five people familiar with the
matter said.
** India's Niva Bupa Health Insurance Company is considering
a minority stake sale at a valuation of $2 billion, Bloomberg
News reported.
** Brazilian mining company Vale has bought back
a 30% stake in Vale Oman from Oman's state energy company OQ,
the Omani state news agency reported.
** Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund has invested a total
of $1.3 billion in four local construction firms to support the
sector tasked with spearheading projects across the kingdom, it
said.
** Paramount Global is again seeking to sell Simon
& Schuster, months after the media company's $2.2 billion deal
to sell the book publisher to Penguin Random House collapsed,
according to people familiar with the matter.
** Activist investor Engine Capital took a 1% stake in
Germany's Brenntag SE and became the second
shareholder to urge the chemicals distributor to spin off its
specialties unit, saying this would dramatically boost its
shares.
** The Krause family is exploring options for Kum & Go, the
U.S. convenience store chain it launched more than 60 years ago,
potentially including a sale of the company that could value it
at close to $2 billion, according to people familiar with the
matter. (Compiled by Rajarshi Roy, Khushi Mandowara and Anirban
Chakroborti in Bengaluru)
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