(Adds Exxon, Technicolor, Blackstone (NYSE:BX), Federated Investors, Fortum ; Updates Luxottica , Wolford )
March 1 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers,acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2100 GMT onThursday:
** Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) XOM.N will exit some joint ventureswith Russia's Rosneft ROSN.MM , citing Western sanctions firstimposed in 2014, in a move that the Russian company said wouldresult in serious losses for its U.S. partner. French media and entertainment company Technicolor TCH.PA has agreed to sell its patent licensing business toU.S. wireless technology provider InterDigital IDCC.O for $475million, the two companies said. The three banks leading the $13.5 billion-equivalent loanand bond financing backing U.S. private equity firm BlackstoneGroup's acquisition of a majority stake in Thomson Reuters' TRI.TO Financial and Risk (F&R) unit are set to sign morebanks into the deal. Botswana will privatise its loss-making beef exportingfirm Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), it said, as the landlockedSouthern African nation aims to slow down the drain of funds onits Treasury. The Polish government's proposal to merge the country'stwo state oil refiners, announced this week, faces oppositionfrom the mayor of Gdansk who said he would fight the plan as itwould hit jobs and tax revenues in the city. U.S. fund manager Federated Investors FII.N has enteredexclusive talks with Hermes Investment Management about buying acontrolling stake in Hermes, sources familiar with the mattersaid. Finland's Fortum FORTUM.HE , which failed last month inits bid to win majority control of Germany's Uniper UN01.DE ,is now considering other acquisitions, Chief Executive PekkaLundmark said. U.S. insurer AmTrust Financial Services Inc AFSI.O saidit would be acquired in a $2.7 billion deal by a group ofshareholders including its founding family, chief executiveofficer and private equity funds. European and U.S. competition regulators approved the48-billion-euro ($58 billion) merger of Italian eyewear makerLuxottica LUX.MI and French lens manufacturer Essilor ESSI.PA , sending shares in both companies higher. A final deal to merge German oil firm Wintershall WINT.UL and DEA, a vehicle of Russian billionaire MikhailFridman, will likely be signed in March or April, DEA ChiefExecutive Officer Maria Moraeus Hanssen said. U.S. grains merchant Archer Daniels Midland Co ADM.N has agreed to take a 50 percent stake in Russian agriculturalgroup Aston's starch and sweeteners activities as it continuesto boost its presence in the expanding food ingredient market. China's Fosun 0656.HK will pay 55 million euros to buya controlling stake in loss-making luxury lingerie and legwearspecialist Wolford WLFD.VI from its founding family and willmake an offer to remaining shareholders, both groups said. U.S. private equity firm Advent International has agreedto buy British electronics and technology business Laird LRD.L , the firms said, valuing it at around 1.2 billion pounds($1.65 billion) including debt. Jabal Omar Development Co. 4250.SE , one of SaudiArabia's largest listed property developers, expects to finaliseits merger deal with Umm Al Qura Development and Construction in2018, a senior company executive told Reuters. Australia's competition regulator has raised concernsabout a planned $1.0 billion takeover of Murray GoulburnCo-operative MGC.AX by Canada's Saputo Inc SAP.TO ,threatening a deal Australia's largest dairy processor says iskey to its survival. Brazil antitrust watchdog Cade on Wednesday rejected thebid by Ultragaz Participações Ltda, a distributor of liquefiedpetroleum gas (LPG), to buy rival Liquigas Distribuidora SA, asubsidiary of state-controlled oil company Petroleo BrasileiroSA PETR4.SA .