Deals of the day- Mergers and acquisitions

Dec 24 (Reuters) – The following bids, mergers, acquisitions

and disposals were reported by 1800 GMT on Tuesday:

** Private equity firm Carlyle Group LP is nearing an

agreement to acquire Johnson Johnson’s ortho clinical

diagnostics unit, four people familiar with the matter said on

Monday, in a deal expected to be worth around $4 billion.

** Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC was named as

British Land’s new partner in London’s Broadgate office

and retail complex, buying out U.S. private equity group

Blackstone Group LP for around 1.7 billion pounds ($2.8

billion).

** Italian insurer Unipol said it had received an

offer to buy the insurance business with 1.7 billion euros ($2.3

billion) worth of premiums which it must sell to meet conditions

set by the local competition watchdog to clear its merger with

peer Fondiaria-SAI.

** South Africa’s state pension fund has increased its stake

in Adcock Ingram Holdings Ltd to over 22 percent,

putting the asset manager in a strong position to block a $1.2

billion takeover of the drugmaker by Chile’s CFR Pharmaceuticals

.

** South Korea’s Woori Finance Holdings picked

NongHyup Financial Group Inc as the preferred bidder to buy

controlling stakes in three of its units including the country’s

largest securities brokerage by assets, Woori said.

Last week, NongHyup submitted a price of about 1.1 trillion

won ($1.04 billion) for controlling stakes in Woori Investment

Securities Co Ltd and three other units including a

life insurance joint venture with Aviva Plc, a source

with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

** Canada’s Sherritt International Corp said it would

sell its coal business for C$946 million ($893 million) to focus

on its nickel and oil businesses.

** Malaysian builder Gamuda Bhd has raised its

offer to buy out co-investors in highway toll operator Kesas

Holdings by 12 percent to 980 million ringgit ($300 million).

** Torq Energy Logistics, an affiliate of privately held

Torq Transloading Inc, said that private equity firm KKR Co

has agreed to invest C$250 million to fund Torq’s

capital program and acquisition strategy.

** Tribune Co said it will buy Sony Corp’s

unit Gracenote Inc, best known for a large database of

music data that is used by music services, for $170 million,

reported the Wall Street Journal.

** Chinese education company Noah Education Holdings Ltd

said it received an offer from some shareholders to take

the company private for about $105 million.

** Chile’s largest beer brewer Compania Cervecerias Unidas

said it was entering the Paraguayan market via the

purchase of stakes in a drinks company and a distributor. It did

not give financial details but said the companies it was buying

had sales of $45 million in 2013.

** A unit of South Africa’s Blue Label Telecoms Ltd

, which provides pre-paid cellular airtime, has acquired

cellular data provider RMCS in a deal worth around $30 million,

Blue Label said.

** Cosmo Oil Co Ltd, Showa Shell Sekiyu KK

, TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK, and Sumitomo Corp

aim to integrate their liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)

wholesale and import businesses to become Japan’s top LPG

distributor, the four companies said.

** Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc’s top

shareholder, Sardar Biglari, said he was considering a bid for

the restaurant chain, the activist investor’s latest attempt to

take control of the company.

** Centerra Gold Inc said it had agreed with

Kyrgyzstan to swap the government’s 32.7 percent stake in the

Canadian miner for half of the Kumtor gold mine, in a deal that

could end a long-drawn argument over the mine’s ownership.

** Turkish hospital chain Medical Park’s shareholders

including U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group LP

signed a deal to sell a majority stake in the chain to Turkish

buyout firm Turkven, Can Deldag, co-head of Carlyle MENA

Partners said.

** Buyout firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC is

close to a deal to pay more than $1.5 billion to acquire Ikaria

Inc, a specialty drug company backed by private equity and

venture capital, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.

** Brazilian iron ore miner Vale SA said on

Monday it agreed to sell a 26.5 percent stake in logistics

company VLI SA to Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management for 2

billion reais ($842.78 million).

Deals of the day- Mergers and acquisitions