(Adds Microsoft, Franchise Group, Braskem; Updates Allkem,
Syneos Health, Swedish Orphan)
May 10 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers,
acquisitions and disposals were reported by 1330 GMT on
Wednesday:
** EU antitrust regulators are set to approve Microsoft
Corp's $69 billion acquisition of Activision next week, with May 15 as the likeliest date, people familiar
with the matter said.
** An investment consortium comprising Elliott Investment
Management, Patient Square Capital and Veritas Capital has
agreed to take Syneos Health Inc private for $4.46
billion, the contract research firm said.
** Vitamin Shoppe owner Franchise Group Inc would be
taken private by a group led by CEO Brian Kahn in a deal valued
at about $2.6 billion, the company said.
** Lithium producer Allkem Ltd has agreed to merge
with U.S.-based Livent Corp to create one of the
world's most valuable producers of key raw materials used in
electric-vehicle batteries.
** Brazilian petrochemical producer Braskem SA confirmed late on Tuesday the offer its controlling shareholder
Novonor received for the firm came from U.S.-based asset manager
Apollo and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).
** Drugmaker Swedish Orphan Biovitrum said it had
agreed to make a $1.7 billion cash offer for CTI BioPharma , a U.S. biopharmaceutical company focused on blood
related cancers and rare diseases.
** Chip material supplier Entegris said it will
sell its electronic chemicals business to Japan's Fujifilm for $700 million and use the proceeds to accelerate
debt payments.
** Silver Lake appeared unshaken in the battle to acquire
Software AG , reiterating in a statement its offer of
32 euros ($35.23) per share for the German company.
** APG, the Dutch pension fund manager, said it will buy a
minority stake from existing shareholders in Driveco, one of
France's largest electric-vehicle charging networks, in a deal
that values the company at roughly 500 million euros ($550
million).
** SoftBank Group Corp is in late-stage talks to
sell asset manager Fortress Investment Group to Abu Dhabi-based
sovereign wealth fund Mubadala for as much as $3 billion, the
Financial Times reported.
** Property developer and investor CK Asset Holdings Ltd made a cash offer for the entire share capital of
Civitas Social Housing PLC for 485 million pounds
($612.12 million).
** Brazilian private equity firm Treecorp Partners on
Tuesday reached a deal to acquire soccer club Coritiba in a deal
valued at about 1.3 billion reais ($260 million), the latest in
a wave of recent investments in Brazil's most popular sport.
** Pierre Lassonde, a Canadian mining industry veteran, has
made an offer to invest in Teck Resources Ltd's coal
business, in a bid to thwart Glencore Plc's hostile
attempt to merge with Teck.
** Rocket Software on Tuesday announced an improved offer
for the acquisition of the entire share capital of Germany's
Software AG at an initial offer price of 34 euros per
share ($37.43).
** A Delaware judge on Tuesday dismissed a shareholder class
action seeking to hold Jack Dorsey and other board members at
Block Inc liable for approving the payments company's
purchase of Jay-Z's streaming service Tidal. (Compiled by Rajarshi Roy and Pratik Jain in Bengaluru)
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