M&A Navigator: Deal Pipeline

(M&A Navigator Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The following is a list of deals covered in detail by M&A Navigator this week: - FRENCH ALTEAD TO BUY CHAUSSON OUTILLAGE French handling equipment and industrial maintenance AlteAd will acquire car components producer Chausson Outillage.

Status: Agreed - BERKSHIRE GETS US ANTITRUST AUTHORITY APPROVAL TO BUY OUT BNSF US Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A, NYSE:BRK.B), the holding company of tycoon Warren Buffett, received the approval of the Federal Trade Commission to buy the remaining 77.4% in railroad operator Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE:BNI) it does not own, for USD26.4bn (EUR17.9bn).

Status: Agreed - FRENCH EXONHIT EYES BUY OF DIAGNOSTICS CO IN USA French biotechnology firm ExonHit Therapeutics (EPA:ALEHT) plans to acquire a US diagnostics firm by the third quarter of 2010, to enhance its positions within molecular diagnostics, ExonHit CEO Loic Maurel said.

Status: Bidding - VOLKSWAGEN CLOSES BUY OF 49.9% IN PORSCHE German carmaker Volkswagen (ETR:VOW) said it has closed the purchase of a 49.9% stake in sector player Porsche (FRA:PAH3) for EUR3.9bn (USD5.8bn), as part of their merger plans.

Status: Agreed - INVITEL HOLDINGS SAYS BOARD REVIEWING MID EUROPA'S USD4.5 P/S OFFER Invitel Holdings (AMEX:IHO) confirmed that UK private equity firm Mid Europea Partners LLP, controlling 74.4% of Invitel Holdings, has announced a tender offer of USD4.5 (EUR3.04) per share for all the Invitel Holdings shares it does not own yet.

Status: Bidding - TURKISH CELEBI LAUNCHES NON-BINDING OFFER FOR SPANISH NEWCO Turkish ground handling service provider Celebi Hava Servisi (IST:CLEBI) has launched a non-binding offer to acquire Spanish Newco Airport Services, the Turkish group said.

Status: Bidding - ITALY'S MARKET REGULATOR CLEARS TERRE ALTE'S BUY OF PERMASTEELISA Italian stock market regulator Consob said it has approved the publication of the prospect for a mandatory takeover offer presented by Terre Alte SpA for all shares of local building cladding company Permasteelisa (BIT:PMS).

Status: Agreed - MODUSLINK BUYS TECH FOR LESS US ModusLink Global Solutions (NASDAQ: MLNK), a specialist within supply chain business process management, said it has bought consumer electronics and business technology product company Tech for Less (TFL).

Status: Closed - SWEDISH LATOUR UNLOADS OEM STAKE Swedish company Investment AB Latour (STO:LATO B) said it has offloaded its entire shareholding in local industrial trading group OEM International AB (STO:OEM B).

Status: Closed - US AEI MAY SELL TERPEL STAKE US energy investment company AEI is considering the sale of its 24.96% shareholding in Colombian fuel distributor Terpel.

Status: Speculation; Auction - AUTOLIV TO BUY PASSIVE SAFETY ASSETS IN EUROPE FROM US DELPHI Swedish airbags and seat-belt maker Autoliv (NYSE:ALV, STO:ALIV SDB) said it has agreed with US car parts maker Delphi to buy certain assets of its European airbag and steering wheel business.

Status: Agreed - SWEDISH SOFTRONIC TO BUY TRAVEL SOFTWARE OPS OF DANISH MONDO Swedish IT and management consultancy Softronic (STO:SOF B) said it has agreed with bankrupt Danish IT services company Mondo (CPH:MONDO) to buy its entire business, customers, employees and software rights within the travel business segment.

Status: Agreed - CISCO SYSTEMS CLOSES SCANSAFE BUY US networking specialist Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) announced it has closed the acquisition of ScanSafe, a top software-as-a-service (SaaS) web security solutions provider based in London and San Francisco.

Status: Closed - SWEDISH LATOUR BUYS 49% IN PRESSMASTER Swedish company Investment AB Latour (STO:LATO B) said it has acquired a 49% stake in local Pressmaster Holding via a share issue.

Status: Closed - TERRA INDUSTRIES SAYS TO REVIEW CF INDUSTRIES' IMPROVED BID US fertliser maker Terra Industries (NYSE:TRA) said it would review the latest improved bid of competitor CF Industries (NYSE:CF) for the company after a consultation with its financial and legal advisors.

Status: Bidding - NAVISTAR ACQUIRES MIXER MANUFACTURER CONTINENTAL MFG CO US commercial vehicle manufacturer Navistar International Corp (NYSE:NAV) has taken over privately-held mixer manufacturer Continental Mfg Company, Navistar said in a statement.

Status: Closed - CF INDUSTRIES AGAIN SWEETENS BID FOR TERRA US fertiliser maker CF Industries (NYSE:CF) said it has sweetened its takeover bid for rival Terra Industries (NYSE:TRA) by USD4.75 (EUR3.21) per share to USD36.75 in cash and 0.1034 of its shares for each Terra share.

Status: Bidding - EUROMAINT TO ACQUIRE GERMAN RSM FOR USD26.7M Swedish private equity investor Ratos (STO:RATO B) said that its wholly-owned subsidiary EuroMaint has agreed to buy German train maintenance company Rail Service Management Group (RSM) for EUR18m (USD26.7m).

Status: Agreed - US CELGENE TO BUY OUT PRIVATE DRUG MAKER US bio-drug maker Celgene Corp (NASDAQ:CELG) has agreed to acquire privately held pharmaceutical company Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, the company said without providing any financial details of the definitive deal.

Status: Agreed - FRENCH REGULATOR TO REVIEW TF1'S ACQUISITION OF TMC, NT1 MONDAY The French competition regulator will review today the proposed purchase of local digital terrestrial television (DTT) channels TMC and NT1 by public television TF1 (EPA:TFI).

Status: Agreed - NEXUS BIOSYSTEMS TAKES OVER AURORA BIOTECHNOLOGIES US automated sample management systems provider NEXUS Biosystems said it has acquired California-based high-performance microplates developer Aurora Biotechnologies for an undisclosed sum.

Status: Closed - BOSKALIS STOCKHOLDERS OKAY RIGHTS ISSUE TO FUND SMIT BUYOUT Dutch dredging company Royal Boskalis Westminster (AMS:BOS) said its shareholders cleared earlier today a share issue of between EUR200m (USD296.3m) and EUR230m which would be used to finance its planned acquisition of maritime services provider Smit Internationale (AMS:SMIT).

Status: Agreed - UK DEFENCE MIN TO PARTLY PRIVATISE STORAGE UNIT UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) is expected to announce the partial divestment of its storage unit, the Defence Storage and Distribution Agency (DSDA), in a bid to reduce costs.

Status: Auction; Speculation - GERMAN BERTELSMANN OFFLOADING PORTUGUESE ASSETS German media group Bertelsmann (FRA:BTG4) is selling its assets in Portugal.

Status: Auction - US MODINE TO SELL MODINE KOREA FOR USD14M US thermal management technology and solution provider Modine Manufacturing Company (NYSE:MOD) said it has agreed to dispose of its Korean-based vehicular HVAC business Modine Korea for some USD14m (EUR9.5m).

Status: Agreed - TURKEY TO HOLD AUCTION ON SUGAR PLANTS SALE ON TUESDAY The Turkish privatisation agency OIB said a tender to sell a group of local sugar plants will be called on Tuesday.

Status: Auction - SWEDISH LATOUR SELLS AUTOTUBE HORDAGRUPPEN Swedish company Investment AB Latour (STO:LATO B) said that its automotive subsidiary Autotube AB has disposed of underperforming Autotube Hordagruppen for an undisclosed price.

Status: Closed - DUTCH REGULATOR APPROVES SUPER DE BOER ACQUISITION BY JUMBO Dutch market watchdog NMa has cleared the proposed acquisition of Dutch food retailer Super de Boer (AMS:SDB) by its smaller peer Jumbo, the two companies said.

Status: Agreed - UK SYNEXUS TO BUY GERMAN CLINPHARMA UK Synexus, focused on recruitment and running of clinical trials, said it has entered an agreement to buy German ClinPharm, to boost the number of its research centres to 26 in nine countries.

Status: Agreed - CADBURY TO COUNTER KRAFT BID ON 14 DEC UK confectionery company Cadbury (LON:CBRY) announced it will launch on 14 December its defence against the hostile offer by US food giant Kraft (NYSE:KFT).

Status: Bidding - INDEPENDENT NEWS & MEDIA SHEDS VERIVOX Irish publisher Independent News & Media (ISE:IPD) announced it has finalised the sale of its 49% stake in German price comparison website Verivox Holdings to VVX Investments Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of private equity firm Oakley Capital Private Equity.

Status: Closed - VOLKSBANKS TO TAKE OVER OEVAG'S FIVE RETAIL BANKS FOR EUR210M Austrian regional cooperative banks, or Volksbanks, cleared last week a decision to buy the five retail banks of Oesterreichische Volksbanken AG (WBAG:VBPS), or OeVAG, for EUR210m (USD313m).

Status: Agreed - SLOVAKIA COMPETITION REGULATOR OKAYS HEALTH INSURERS VSZP, SZP TIE-UP Slovakia's antitrust regulator (PMU) has cleared the cost-cut aimed merger between local state-owned health insurers Vseobecna Zdravotna Poistovna (VsZP) and Spolocna Zdravotna Poistovna (SZP), the body said.

Status: Agreed - KARSTADT STORES EXPECTED TO BE SOLD BY H2 2010 Rolf Weidmann, the insolvency administrator of German department store chain Karstadt, part of German retailer Arcandor (ETR:ARO), said he hopes to find a buyer for the 120 stores by the second half of 2010.

Status: Auction - SEMPERIT TO CREATE CONVEYOR BELT JV IN CHINA Austria-based industrial rubber producer Semperit AG Holding (WBAG:SEM) said it has struck a deal with Chinese Wang Chao Coal & Electricity Group to form a conveyor belt manufacturing joint venture.

Status: Agreed - DUTCH HEINEKEN TO BUY APB INDIA Dutch brewer Heineken (AMS:HEIA) announced an agreement to buy the Indian activities of Asia-Pacific Breweries (APB) for EUR25m (USD37.2m).

Status: Agreed - DUTCH TOMTOM BUYS ILOCAL Dutch navigation-device maker TomTom (AMS:TOM2) announced the acquisition of home business listings company ilocal, without giving financial details.

Status: Closed - ENI TO START SALE OF MINERAL NEWCOS IN APRIL 2010 Italian oil ans gas major Eni (BIT:ENI) will not launch the sale of its mineral newcos before April next year, the company told trade union representatives after they decided to call a strike to protest the lack of an agreement on the newcos.

Status: Delayed - A2A SEEKING TO SELL ALPIQ STAKE BY END-2009 Italy's municipal utility A2A (BIT:A2A) is planning to offload its 5.16% interest in Swiss energy group Alpiq Holding (SWF:ALPH) by the end of the year in an effort to raise funds to lower its debt.

Status: Speculation; Auction - CARLYLE OFFERS TO BUY UK SHANKS FOR GBP1.35 P/S UK waste management firm Shanks Group (LON:SKS) said it had received a GBP1.35 (USD2.23/EUR1.5) per share (p/s) unsolicited takeover approach from a private equity group, which a source close to the situation told Reuters it was US Carlyle.

Status: Bidding; Speculation - KOOR INDUSTRIES BOOSTS CREDIT SUISSE STAKE TO 2.28% Israeli holding company Koor Industries (TLV:KOR) said it has raised its shareholding in Credit Suisse (VTX:CSGN) to 2.28% from 1.9%.

Status: Closed - CHINESE GEELY MAY RESTART TALKS ON SAAB BUY Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile Holdings (HKG:0175) is still on the lookout for acquisitions and does not rule out restarting talks for the purchase of struggling Saab Automobile.

Status: Talks - APPLE CONFIRMS MUSIC WEBSITE LALA.COM TAKEOVER US PC and musical player maker Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) confirmed the acquisition of music streaming service Lala.com without providing any financial details of the deal.

Status: Closed - VERTU MOTORS BUYS RENAULT, SEAT DEALERSHIP British car dealer Vertu Motors (LON:VTU) said it has taken over a Renault and SEAT dealership in Darlington following the acquisition of Typocar.

Status: Closed ((Comments on this story may be sent to tww.feedback@m2.com)) (c) 2009 M2 COMMUNICATIONS

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