(Adds Kinross, Enterprise Product, Rank Group , Gawker, Uber, Bashneft and Salzgitter )
Aug 18 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Thursday:
** Canada's Kinross Gold Corp K.TO is looking to retreat from Chile and has put its main assets in that country up for sale, according to people familiar with the process. Enterprise Product Partners LP EPD.N approached Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB) WMB.N earlier this summer about an acquisition that would combine the two U.S. oil and gas pipeline companies, according to people familiar with the matter. Casino and bingo hall operator Rank Group Plc RNK.L and online gambling company 888 Holdings Plc 888.L ended efforts to take over rival British bookmaker William Hill Plc WMH.L days after a revised offer was rejected. U.S. internet publisher Gawker Media Group said that it would shut down Gawker.com next week, ending the online news and gossip website's 14-year run. Ride service Uber Technologies Inc UBER.UL said it has acquired the self-driving trucks startup Otto, and it also announced that Volvo Car Group has agreed to a $300 million alliance to develop self-driving cars. Germany's Salzgitter SZGG.DE denied a report that it was in government-led talks to merge with industrial group Thyssenkrupp's TKAG.DE steel business. Singapore Telecommunications Ltd STEL.SI is investing S$2.47 billion ($1.8 billion) for bigger slices of the top mobile operators of Thailand and India, as Southeast Asia's largest telecoms firm raises its bet on emerging markets to spur growth. United Bankshares Inc UBSI.O said it would buy rival lender Cardinal Financial Corp CFNL.O in an all-stock deal worth about $912 million, strengthening its position in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Taiwanese investor Samuel Yin is hoping to seize control of CTBC Financial Holding Co Ltd 2891.TW in a move that could form the island's biggest holding company with combined assets of more than T$8 trillion ($258 billion), the Economic Daily and the Commercial Times reported.
The Ruentex Group chief intends to raise his stake in CTBC to 30 percent from about 2 percent, the papers reported citing unnamed sources. German cement and aggregates producer Heidelbergcement AG HEIG.DE has agreed to sell assets in the United States to fulfil anti-trust requirements for its takeover of Italian rival Italcementi ITAI.MI . Heidelbergcement said it will sell its Martinsburg, West Virginia cement plant and eight related terminals to Colombian cement-maker Cementos Argos Sa CCB.CN for $660 million. Israeli investment house Meitav Dash MTDS.TA said it is in talks with an international investment fund interested in purchasing the company. The Calcalist financial news website said the deal could value Meitav Dash at more than 1.4 billion shekels (about $370 million). South Korea's Samsung (KS:005930) Life Insurance Co Ltd 032830.KS is buying its insurance affiliate's entire 8 percent stake in Samsung Securities Co Ltd 016360.KS , a move seen as furthering the restructuring of conglomerate Samsung Group SAGR.UL . Swiss technical and electronic components distributor Daetwyler Holding AG DAE.S said it did not intend to make a higher offer for Premier Farnell PFL.L , paving the way for U.S. rival Avnet Inc AVT.N to take over the Raspberry Pi mini computer maker.