(Adds UniCredit, EDF, Rosneft; Updates Valeant)
Oct 19 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions
and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Monday:
** China is set to take a 33.5 percent stake in a
16-billion-pound ($25-billion) nuclear power project being built
by French utility EDF EDF.PA at Hinkley Point in southwest
England, Les Echos newspaper reported.
** UniCredit CRDI.MI , Italy's biggest bank by assets, is
considering the sale of retail and small and medium enterprise
businesses at its Bank Austria unit, a source close to the
matter said.
** Russia's Rosneft ROSN.MM has placed a 9 percent stake
in Italian refiner Saras SRS.MI at 1.9 euros ($2.15) per
share, a market source said. Earlier Monday, the Russian energy
giant announced plans to sell the stake via bookbuilding, adding
it would retain a 12 percent stake.
** Valeant Pharmaceuticals (N:VRX) International VRX.TO VRX.N
said it was considering the sale of its neurological
pharmaceutical business and might also spin it off or take it
private.
** Brazilian construction group Andrade Gutierrez said it
had no intention of selling its stake in Brazil's CCR SA
CCRO3.SA , an operator of toll roads, as reported earlier by
Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.
** French gas and power group Engie ENGIE.PA signed a
mandate with Bank of America Merrill Lynch (N:BAC) for the sale of its
gas plants in North America, French weekly La Lettre de
L'Expansion reported.
** Payment technology company Wex Inc WEX.N said it would
acquire transportation services payments company Electronic
Funds Source LLC for about $1.1 billion in cash.
** China's Ministry of Commerce approved Nokia's NOKIA.HE
proposed acquisition of French rival Alcatel-Lucent ALUA.PA
with conditions, almost completing the 15.6 billion euro ($17.6
billion) deal's antitrust process.
** Chipmaker Microsemi Corp MSCC.O offered to buy
PMC-Sierra Inc PMCS.O for about $2.2 billion, trumping a $2
billion offer by Skyworks Solutions Inc SWKS.O .
** Canadian Oil Sands Ltd COS.TO asked its shareholders on
Monday to reject a hostile takeover offer by Suncor Energy Inc
SU.TO , saying it was weak and substantially undervalued the
company's ownership in Syncrude.
** Austria's state holding company OBIB, which has stakes in
firms including Telekom Austria TELA.VI , Austrian Post
POST.VI and OMV OMVV.VI , has not been instructed to sell any
shares, its chief said.
** German carmaker Audi NSUG.DE will invest 32 billion
forints ($117.6 million) in its manufacturing plant in the
Western Hungarian city of Gyor, the country's foreign minister
was quoted as saying.
** ITV ITV.L , Britain's biggest free-to-air commercial
broadcaster, agreed to buy the TV business of Northern Irish
network partner UTV UTV.L for 100 million pounds ($154
million) in cash, it said.
** Europe's largest stainless steel company Outokumpu
OUT1V.HE said it would sell a 55 percent stake in Shanghai
Krupp Stainless (SKS), Chinese joint venture mill, for 370
million euros ($420.5 million) to reduce debt.
** Norwegian environmental technology firm Goodtech GOD.OL
signed a deal to sell most of its Swedish operations to its
largest shareholder for up to 365 million Norwegian crowns ($45
million), it reported late on Sunday.
** Tsingtao Brewery Co Ltd 600600.SS 0168.HK said it
would buy the equity interest it did not already own in a
loss-making brewery joint venture with Japan's Suntory Holdings,
hoping to boost efficiency.
** Malaysia's national electricity utility Tenaga Nasional
Bhd TENA.KL submitted a conditional offer to buy the energy
assets of troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
** Australia's Treasury Wine Estates Ltd TWE.AX purchased
$552 million of Diageo Plc's DGE.L U.S. and British wine
operations, along with plans to issue shares to fund the offer.
** U.S. automated teller machine maker Diebold Inc DBD.N
offered to buy rival Wincor Nixdorf AG WING.DE of Germany for
1.7 billion euros ($1.9 billion), the companies said on
Saturday. Diebold offered 52.50 euros per share in cash and
stock, a 35 percent premium to Wincor's closing price on
Friday. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N12H0EN
** Aster DM Healthcare, a Dubai-based healthcare company,
has bought an additional 57 percent stake in a hospital in
Riyadh for 900 million dirhams ($245 million), it said on
Sunday.
** Saudi Basic Industries Corp 2010.SE (SABIC), one of the
world's largest petrochemicals groups, is considering launching
joint ventures in China and the United States, its acting chief
executive told Reuters on Sunday.
** French utility EDF EDF.PA hoped to announce a deal with
Chinese investors to build a nuclear plant at Hinkley Point,
Britain, in the coming days, its chief executive said on Sunday.