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2009 Company Mergers and Acquisitions

List of company mergers and acquisitions which took place in the UK in 2009.

HMV Group is to acquire the MAMA Group, a collection of music and media businesses, for £46m.  HMV already owns a small portion of the company, which undertook a joint venture with HMV in 2009 to run the Mean Fiddler Group.  MAMA operates live music venues such as the Barfly network and Hammersmith Apollo, provides artist management and publishing services, and is responsible for the music magazine The Fly.

The private equity investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is to acquire British Car Auctions from Montague Private Equity.

Chloride, the secure power solutions provider, has acquired the French company AEES, which provides secure power services within the energy and infrastructure sectors.

Quality Leisure Management, a provider of performance management and safety services for the leisure industry, has become a subsidiary of PHSC, a health and safety consultancy group.

The transport packaging manufacturer Cartonplast has purchased Demes Logistics, a division of the office products and packaging company DS Smith.

The accountancy firm Moore Stephens has acquired AHL Business Assurance, a specialist in governance, risk and internal audit services within the public sector.  The acquisition will allow Moore Stephens to grow its practice within this sector.  The staff from AHL will join the company's governance, risk and assurance team.

Proximagen Neuroscience, the pharmaceutical research company, has acquired Minster Pharmaceuticals for £4.3m.

Lyceum Capital, the mid-market investment firm, has acquired the energy management consultancy McKinnon & Clarke for £22m.

The information services company Experian has acquired a majority share in A-Care Systems, a Japanese email marketing firm.  Experian's permission-based email marketing and customer intelligence division, Experian Cheetahmail, will incorporate A-Care.  As a result, Experian will become the largest permission-based email marketer in the world.

The security solutions group G4S has acquired Nuclear Security Services Corporation for $22m.  NSSC is an American company working mainly within the nuclear power and government sectors.

Deloitte is to acquire ReportSource, an information management consultancy that specialises in Enterprise Performance Management and Business Intelligence.  Staff from ReportSource will join the business systems division of Deloitte's consulting practice.

Close Brothers Group, the financial services provider, has acquired the invoice financing loan book of GMAC Commercial Finance for up to £98m.  Close Brothers intends to integrate the business into its own invoice finance division.

The Davis Service Group, a European textile maintenance company, has acquired a Scandinavian facility service division of ISS, and a German workwear business for a total of £44.5m.

Aviva Investors, the asset management company, has acquired the US-based River Road Asset Management.  The company will become part of Aviva Investors North America.

Virgin Money is to acquire the private bank Church House Trust.  Virgin intends to use this acquisition as a base for its retail banking business, which will offer deposit and mortgage services as well the credit card, investment and insurance products currently under the Virgin Money brand.

Networkers International has acquired the telecoms, energy and ICT recruitment company Comms Group.

The drug development firms Silence Therapeutics and Intradigm Corporation are to merge.  The companies specialise in RNA interference, a method of research based on gene function.  The new business will operate as Silence Therapeutics.

The engineering and industrial holding company Southern Bear has acquired IPCL, Intumescent Protective Coatings Limited, a specialist in fire and corrosion protective coatings for the construction industry.

Capita Group has acquired Synetrix, an ICT solutions provider within the public, private and education sectors, for £75m.

Following its acquisition of Turquoise Trading, the London Stock Exchange Group plans to merge the business with Baikal Global creating a pan-European trading company.  It will operate under the Turquoise brand.

The online gaming company 888 has acquired Wink Bingo from Daub.  Wink operates online bingo networks such as Posh Bingo and Bingo Fabulous, providing expansion for 888's business-to-consumer offering.

The UK-based biotechnology company Kiotech has sold its sports fishing brand Ultrabite to the fishing tackle specialist Rapala VMC Corporation.  Rapala has already developed products using Ultrabite, a pheromone attractant technology, and has further plans for expansion.  Kiotech will now focus on its aquaculture and agriculture business.

The internet group Forward, formerly known as TrafficBroker, has acquired uSwitch.com from US company Scripps Network Interactive.  uSwitch will become the flagship brand of Forward Innovations, the group's consumer division made up of several money-saving sites.

Nuance, a US-based provider of speech and imaging technologies, has acquired the UK company SpinVox, which specialises in voice-to-text services.  Nuance plans to integrate the company's systems into its own speech recognition products.

Phoenix IT Group has acquired the UK business and certain assets of Office Shadow through its subsidiary ICM Business Continuity Services.  Office Shadow brings business continuity planning, business impact analysis, risk management and compliance tools to ICM.

The Orchid Group, an independent pub and restaurant operator, has acquired Premium Bars and Restaurants from administration.  This includes 43 bars, restaurants and nightclubs throughout the UK, taking the number of venues under Orchid's ownership to 292.

Procter & Gamble is to acquire the home care brand Ambi Pur from the Sara Lee Corporation for €320m.

Kingspan Group, a manufacturer of insulation materials, has acquired the Australian insulation distribution company AIR-CELL Innovations.

Whitbread, the hotel and restaurant group, has acquired coffeeheaven international through its subsidiary Costa.  coffeeheaven has 90 locations throughout Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary and Latvia.  It will become a subsidiary of Costa.

The global investment bank Nomura has expanded its UK business with the acquisition of Tricorn Partners, a corporate finance advisory firm.

Perspective Financial Services has added an eleventh business to its expanding group with the acquisition of Charles Reynolds Associates, a firm of financial advisers in London.

Helvetia Wealth, the asset management firm, has acquired City Gate Money Managers and a controlling stake in TAM Asset Management.
 
Fast.co.uk, the home and business broadband provider, has acquired the internet services company, Firenet.

ClearDebt has acquired four subsidiaries of the consumer debt advisory company Relax Group for £2.7m.  Relax Group recently went into administration.

The private equity advisory firm Apax Partners has acquired Marken, a clinical trial logistics and support services provider.  The company has also acquired Psagot Investment House based in Israel.

Vitruvian Partners, the private equity firm, has acquired a majority stake in Callcredit Information Group from the Skipton Building Society.
 
The merger of Tenon Group and RSM Bentley Jennison will create the seventh-largest financial and business advisory firm in the UK, with 3000 advisors in 50 locations.  The new company will be called RSM Tenon and will be the UK subsidiary of RSM International.

Computacenter has acquired the German company becom Informationssysteme, a provider of large IBM systems, for €2m.  It has also acquired certain assets of the UK-based Thesaurus Computer Services, which will be integrated into the Computacenter brand.

Playtech, the online gaming software provider, is to acquire Gaming Technology Solutions for around €21.6m.

Go-Ahead Group is to sell its ground handling and cargo operations at Heathrow Airport to Dnata, an air travel services supplier in the Middle East.  Servisair UK has also purchased Go-Ahead's ground handling operations at eleven UK airports.

Vertu Motors, the motor retailer and business consolidator, has acquired Typocar, trading as David Penman Cars, for around £1.1m.  This is the third Renault dealership to be acquired by Vertu.  David Penman is also a SEAT dealership, the first SEAT outlet to join the Vertu group.  The dealership will be renamed Bristol Street Motors.

Hunting, the international energy services company, has acquired the Welltonic Group for up to £9m.

Tracsis, a provider of scheduling software to the transport industry, is to acquire Safety Information Systems, which provides safety and performance reporting software to the rail sector.

The digital communications agency Digital Marketing Group has acquired 20:20 London for up to £2m.  20:20 will be integrated into DMG's existing digital marketing division, which consists of five subsidiary businesses.  Together these companies will be reorganised and rebranded as 20:20 Network, 20:20 Technology, 20:20 MediaAnalytics and 20:20 London.

Oakley Capital Private Equity has acquired a controlling stake in Verivox Holdings, a German energy and telecommunications price comparison website.  The acquisition was completed through VVX, a new subsidiary company of Oakley.

IFG Group, the Irish financial services provider, has acquired the UK-based James Hay, a provider of Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPP), for £35m.  James Hay was previously owned by Santander Private Banking.

Delphic Diagnostics has been bought out of administration by Lab21, a clinical diagnostics provider, in its third acquisition this year.

The HR and outsourcing agency Staffline has acquired Peter Rowley, a training company within the manufacturing industry, for up to £1.5m.

The retail trade associations, British Shops and Stores Association and the British Hardware Federation, have merged.

V Networks, a subsidiary of Opal Telecom, has acquired the telecommunications provider UK Telco.

Aldermore Bank, a specialist lending services firm, has acquired the factoring and invoice discounting company Absolute Invoice Finance.  Aldermore purchased the business from AnaCap Financial Partners, a private equity firm that actually bought Aldermore earlier this year.

Inmarsat
, the mobile satellite communications specialist, has acquired a US-based internet protocol solutions provider Segovia, which works with the US military and government agencies.  Segovia will continue to operate as a separate business under Stratos, Inmarsat's direct distribution division.

Two leading employee benefits companies have come together through the acquisition of HSBC Actuaries and Consultants by Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group.

Greene King has strengthened its position in Scotland with the acquisition of seven pubs from Mitchells & Butlers for £12.7m.

Managed Support Services, the building solutions provider, has acquired Status Building Services for £3.7m.  Status has three operating divisions offering building services, electrical services and fire protection solutions.

C&C Group, the company responsible for alcoholic brands such as Bulmers and Magners, is to acquire certain assets of the US-based wine company Constellation Brands.  C&C will purchase the Gaymer Cider Company from Constellation for £45m.  This includes several cider brands as well as production and warehouse facilities in Somerset.

Thomson Reuters has acquired the Swiss information company ASSET4 that provides environmental, social responsibility and governance information for investors and corporate executives.

Huntsworth, the healthcare communications and PR agency, has extended its international network with the acquisition of Dutko Worldwide Holdings for up to £27m.  Dutko is a US-based company providing public policy management.

Galliford Try has acquired the Rosemullion Property Company based in Cornwall, adding nine development sites to its business in the South West.

Yorkshire Building Society and Chelsea Building Society are due to merge creating the second-largest building society in the UK, with 2.7m members and 178 branches.  The Chelsea brand name will be retained but the new organisation will be called Yorkshire Building Society.  The merger is expected to take place by April 2010.

The senior directors of Timscris have completed a management buy-out of the business, which specialises in reader offers and mail order.

CACI, the marketing and technology solutions provider, has acquired the digital agency Monitor Media.  CACI hopes that Monitor's expertise in online marketing activities will develop the company's consultancy service.

TP Toys, an outdoor toys manufacturer, has added outdoor clothing to its product range following the acquisition of the online retailer Muddy Puddles.

Sesame Group has acquired the IFA support services businesses Bankhall Group and PMS from Skandia UK.  The newly formed group has been named Sesame Bankhall Group.

CDC Software has acquired the Canadian firm Truition, a software-as-a-service e-commerce provider for retailers and brand manufacturers.  CDC has also announced the intended acquisition of US-based gomembers, a company specialising in software-as-a-service for not-for-profit organisations and NGOs.

The joint managing directors of the British School of Motoring have purchased the business from Arques Industries for £10m.

The foodservice supplier Pasta King has been acquired following a management buy-in.  Howard Farquhar and Mike Cole, who will take up management roles at the company, were backed by NGBI Private Equity in a deal worth £13m.

Veale Wasbrough and Vizards Tweedie law firms have merged to become Veale Wasbrough Vizards, based in Bristol and London.

MBL Group, the CDs, DVDs and computer games distributor, is to acquire Global Media Vault.  It is hoped that GMV, which provides various website, mobile and in-home retail services, will expand MBL's online capabilities.

G4S, the security services company, has acquired the US-based All Star International through its subsidiary Wackenhut Services for $59.9m.  All Star is a facilities management company providing support services for the US Government.

The specialist travel insurance intermediary Rock Insurance has achieved its third acquisition this year with the purchase of the online insurance broker 24drtravel.com.

Tangerine PR has acquired the social media marketing agency Juice Digital.  Juice will become a division of Tangerine under its existing brand name.

Morris & Son, a residual stock management and wholesale specialist, has acquired the traditional confectionery company Stockley's Sweets.

Amlin, the insurance and reinsurance underwriting company, has enhanced its commercial insurance product range with the acquisition of Crowe Livestock Underwriting.

A company that provides business cost reduction services, Cost and Expense Solutions, has acquired Expenses4Less, an outsourced procurement services firm.

In its third acquisition of the year, Capita Symonds, the property and infrastructure consultancy, has purchased the engineering consultancy Multi-Tech Contracts.

Professional Investment Management Services, a firm of financial advisers, has become part of Perspective Financial Services.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has acquired the business performance management company Paragon Consulting Group.  Staff will join the PricewaterhouseCoopers consulting business based in Turkey, Singapore, the UK and Dubai.

Allocate Software, the workforce optimisation software provider, is to acquire the Swedish company Time Care, which specialises in software for the healthcare market.   The purchase allows Allocate to expand within Europe and become a leading workforce management solutions provider in the healthcare sector.
 
The Japanese contact lens manufacturer Menicon has acquired the UK-based company David Thomas Contact Lenses.

The PRO Group of insurance companies has been acquired by Tawa, an insurance run-off management firm, for up to £38m.

The Go-Ahead Group has acquired the public transport provider Plymouth CityBus for £20m.  PCB, which has a fleet of 173 buses and 11 coaches, was formerly owned by Plymouth City Council.

Digital Angel has sold its UK-based subsidiary McMurdo for €10m, to the French technology company Orolia.  McMurdo specialises in emergency location beacons, which will complement Orolia's range of positioning, navigation and timing equipment.

Uniq, the convenience foods group, is to sell its German and Polish business units to IFR Capital for €28.5m.  It has also announced the sale of its business in the Netherlands to Glide Equity Management for €20m.  This follows the sale of Uniq's French division Marie earlier this year.

Debenhams is to acquire the leading Danish department store chain Magasin, which includes six stores in total, for £12.3m.

Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings has acquired a majority stake in the US-based reinsurance firm Goldstreet Insurance Company.  It is possible that Randall & Quilter may also purchase the remaining share in the company as negotiations continue.

International SOS has acquired a majority stake in Abermed, a UK provider of health services to the energy sector, especially in the UK and North Sea.  International SOS operates in a similar field, providing medical and security assistance to businesses employing staff abroad.

Endemol, the entertainment production group, has acquired three new film and television production companies.  Tiger Aspect ProductionsDarlow Smithson Productions and Tigress Productions have been sold to Endemol by the media company IMG.

JP Morgan Cazenove, the UK investment bank, has been acquired entirely by JP Morgan.  Cazenove Group has relinquished its 50% share in the business, which was originally a joint venture between the two companies.  JP Morgan Caznove will continue to operate under its existing name.

Doodson Broking Group, the independent insurance company, has acquired the specialist entertainment insurer Albemarle Insurance.  Albemarle will be renamed Doodson Albemarle. 

The leadership team of the consumer debt collection agency Robinson Way & Co have completed a management buy-out of the company, and have renamed the firm Robinson Way Ltd.  Its parent company London Scottish Bank went into administration in November 2008.

British Airways and the Spanish air transport company Iberia have announced their intention to merge by the end of 2010, creating a leading airline group of 419 aircraft.  TopCo, a newly created holding company based in Spain, will own both businesses.

Chime Communications, the brand management and advertising firm, is to merge its subsidiary company Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial with Pelham Public Relations.  The new business will be renamed Pelham Bell Pottinger and Chime will own a majority share.

Electronic Arts has shown its intent to grow in the social entertainment market with the acquisition of the London-based gaming company Playfish for $275m.   Playfish has ten titles played across social networking platforms such as Facebook and iPhone, with around 60 million monthly players.  The company will become part of EA Interactive.

Live Nation has sold its UK theatres to the Ambassador Theatre Group for £90m.  As a result of the purchase, which includes The Lyceum and Apollo Victoria in London, ATG will operate a total of 39 venues.

The online gaming company PartyGaming has acquired WPT Enterprises for $12.3m.  The US-based WPT specialises in televised gaming and tournaments such as the World Poker Tour.

The web agency Design Logix has merged with SDS Technology Group.  The software group already includes a vehicle tracking business and an asset management division.

Vertu Motors has acquired Lichfield Vauxhall from Steve Thompson Cars for £2.78m.  The purchase of the dealership increases the number of Vertu's Vauxhall sites to seven.

Alternative Networks, the business telecoms provider, has acquired the telecoms billing and call management software company Aurora Kendrick James.

The business telecommunications firm SpiriTel has expanded its customer base with the purchase of two voice and data services companies, ADK Communications and Edge Solutions.  SpiriTel has made eight acquisitions in three years.

TrainFX, a provider of passenger information, communication and security products for the rail sector, has bought ASG Media Group out of administration.

Zoom Media, an out-of-home digital media specialist, has acquired Gym Screen Media, which produces television channels for 160 fitness venues such as David Lloyd and Virgin Active.  The acquisition will expand Zoom's network to 650 fitness facilities in the UK.

Barclays Bank is to acquire Standard Life Bank from the insurance company Standard Life for £226m.  It is thought that around 270 employees will transfer to Barclays.

Brady Corp, the US-based manufacturer of workplace identification products, has acquired the UK provider of industry equipment Welco, after its parent company went into administration.

Wealth advisory firm Towry Law has acquired the UK offices of Edward Jones, the US-based investment company.  Jones will transfer around 50,000 clients and £1.5 billion of managed assets to Towry.

Thomson Reuters is to acquire Breakingviews, an online financial commentary service.  The combined commentary teams will operate under the existing Breakingviews brand name.

Regent Inns, the operating company behind bars, restaurants and clubs such as Walkabout, Jongleurs and Old Orleans, has successfully sold several sites after the business fell into administration.  Three directors of Regent Inns have formed a new company named Intertain to buy 60 sites, while Punch Pub Company has acquired 12.

The US-based market research company e-Rewards is to acquire Research Now, the UK online fieldwork and panel company.

First Derivatives, the capital markets software provider, has acquired the US-based financial data systems company Reference Data Factory for around $10m.

The scientific research company Proximagen Neuroscience is to acquire Cambridge Biotechnology, a subsidiary of the Swedish pharmaceutical company Biovitrum.

Computacenter UK has sold its subsidiary Computacenter Distribution to the technology distribution company Ingram Micro.  Computacenter Distribution staff will transfer to Ingram Micro's UK offices.

ACAL Technology is to expand into Europe following the acquisition of the French company BFi OPTiLAS for €10m.  Both companies specialise in the distribution of electronic components.

Netcall, a provider of callback and auto-messaging services, has added workforce management tools to its product offering with the acquisition of Q-Max, a leading company in this field.

The shareholders of VoiteQ, a provider of voice directed IT systems, have established a holding company to manage the business.  The first action of the newly formed CentriQ Group is to acquire Cirrus Logistics, a simulation tools specialist.  VoiteQ and Cirrus will continue to operate separately under their existing brand names.

The marketing and technology firm Amaze has acquired both a technology consultancy, MCL Digital, and the online and eCRM agency Underwired.  The eCRM function at Underwired, which boasts clients such as News International and Nickelodeon, will continue to operate under its existing brand name.  MCL will be integrated into Amaze.

Vitrolife, a manufacturer of biotechnology and medical products, has acquired IVF Ltd, a company previously responsible for the sales and marketing of Vitrolife's fertility products in the UK and Ireland.  As a result of the acquisition the marketing function will return to Vitrolife and IVF will be renamed to reflect its new ownership.

System C Healthcare, the health and social care informatics service, has merged with the Scottish web solutions firm Conscia Enterprise Systems.

Anheuser-Busch InBev is to sell its operations in nine Central European countries to the private equity and investment firm CVC Capital Partners for up to $800m.

RHJ International, the diversified investment holding company, is to acquire Kleinwort Benson from Commerzbank for £225m.  The purchase includes both the UK-based Kleinwort Benson Private Bank and Kleinwort Benson Channel Island Holdings, which will help RHJ to develop a European financial services business.

LSL Property Services is to become the second-largest estate agency network in the UK following its acquisition of Halifax Estate Agencies.  LSL will gain 218 branches, which will be integrated into the company's existing brands: Your Move, Reeds Rains and InterCounty.  Halifax Estate Agencies was sold by Lloyds Banking Group for £1.

The real estate investment firm British Land Company has entered into a joint venture with the US asset management company Blackstone Group.  Blackstone is to acquire a 50% stake in Broadgate, a City of London office estate operated by Broadgate Estates, a subsidiary of the British Land Company.

Ultra Electronics, the specialist security and aerospace systems group, has acquired the US-based company Scytale for around £4.5m.  It is hoped that Scytale, which specialises in communication security software, will strengthen Ultra's capabilities in the battlespace IT market.

The independent investment company Global Infrastructure Partners has acquired London Gatwick Airport from BAA.  Gatwick is now part of GIP's growing portfolio of UK investments, which includes London City Airport, Biffa and Great Yarmouth Port Company.  BAA was ordered to sell Gatwick by the Competition Commission in order to create greater competition between London airports.

The technology firm NanoGaN has been acquired by IQE for £3.6m.  Both companies produce semiconductor wafers, which are used in mobile handsets, DVDs, printers and other electronic devices.

Following its acquisition of The Crystal Rooms in London, the gaming company Praesepe has purchased 13 gaming centres in South West England and South Wales, consisting of nine adult gaming centres and Praesepe's first family entertainment sites.

Next Fifteen Communications is to acquire several divisions of Upstream Marketing and Communications known collectively as Upstream Asia.  The subsidiaries, which are located in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney, will become part of Next Fifteen's Bite Communications Group.

Europackaging Ltd has been acquired by its former owners, the Majid family, through their company Europackaging Jersey Guarantee.  The family originally sold the business in 2006 to MidOcean Partners.

Investment firm Patron Sports Leisure has acquired Powerleague, the operator of 43 five-a-side football centres in the UK, for £42.5m.  Patron was already a shareholder in the company with a 29% stake.

Videojet Technologies, the provider of coding, marking and labelling solutions, has acquired the German company Wolke Inks & Printers.  It is hoped that Wolke's expertise in thermal ink jet coding systems will enhance Videojet's service offering.  Wolke will continue to operate in Germany under its existing company name.

The reinsurance firm Guy Carpenter is to acquire Rattner Mackenzie, an insurance and reinsurance broker and subsidiary of HCC Insurance Holdings.  Following the purchase, Guy Carpenter will provide reinsurance intermediary services for HCC.

Sinclair Knight Merz, a provider of engineering, science and project delivery services, is to acquire the UK-based Enviros, an environmental and health and safety consultancy.

Keller Group, the ground engineering company, is to acquire the Singapore-based foundation contractor Resource Holdings for £30.6m.

Media Corporation, the online publishing and advertising company, has acquired the internet gaming firm Purple Lounge.

The Parkmead Group, a merchant bank within the oil, gas and energy sectors, has acquired the economic consultancy firm Aupec, which also specialises in the energy industry.  Parkmead hopes the acquisition will advance the company's efforts to become a leading oil and gas investment and advisory firm.

Homeserve Emergency Services, a division of Homeserve plc, has completed a management buy-out backed by Lloyds TSB Development Capital for £11m.  HES, which provides emergency home cover, replacement and repair services, will be rebranded as Evander Group.


Premier Farnell
, the electronic components distribution company, has acquired the German computer aided design software firm CadSoft Computer.

Wine Cellar, the operator of retail outlets under the brand names Booze Buster, Simply Drinks and Simply Food & Drinks, has gone into administration.  EFB Retail has purchased 109 of the 170 stores, saving around 700 jobs.

The accountancy and business advisory company Beever and Struthers has merged with the Blackburn-based firm Waterworths creating one of the largest independent financial companies in the North West.  Waterworths will be rebranded as Beever and Struthers.

Avalon Acquisitions, a new company backed by the private equity firm Permira, is to acquire the specialist life insurer Just Retirement.

The private equity firm August Equity has acquired Funeral Services Partnership and is contributing £23m to the development of the company.

Aquascutum, the luxury fashion brand, has been acquired by the retail entrepreneur Harold Tillman, and Belinda Earl, the Group CEO of Jaeger.  The purchase sees the brand return to British ownership after it was bought by Japanese apparel company Renown in 1990.

Emerald Energy, the UK-based oil and gas exploration company, is to be acquired by Sinochem Resources.

Gresham Private Equity has backed a management buy-out of five companies from the Formation Group for £20.75m.  The businesses, which provide management and professional services to the sports, music and entertainment industries, will form the James Grant Group.  

John Wood Group has acquired Baker Energy, the energy services division of US company Michael Baker Corporation, for $37.9m.

Advanced Computer Software continues to expand with the acquisition of Oak Labs, an Indian company that develops software for local government, charity and healthcare organisations.  ACS also acquired Business Systems Group and StaffPlan earlier this year.

Advanced Medical Solutions Group, a provider of medical products for the wound care market, has acquired the remaining 50.6% of Corpura, originally a joint venture with Belgian company Recticel.  Recticel has sold its stake in the business for around £2.1m.

Civica Group, a provider of software solutions and managed services in the public sector, has acquired the health and social care software company in4tek through its subsidiary Civica UK.

The storage and distribution company Prestige Services Group has improved its service offering through the acquisition of Pakfin Logistics, which provides finishing services for printers and publishers.

The UK division of General Physics, the performance improvement solutions company, has acquired Milsom Industrial Designs, an aerospace and engineering technical services provider.

The insurance companies PBS Holdings and Longhawk Insurance Group have merged.  The combined business will rebrand under a new name and be headquartered in Leeds.

Consort Medical, a medical device manufacturer, is to enhance its product offering with the acquisition of The Medical House, which specialises in delivery systems for injectable drugs.

The healthcare diagnostics company DxS has been acquired by the international medical technologies firm QIAGEN for around $95m.

ExactTarget
, the global email marketing company, has acquired the London-based Keymail Marketing, providing a headquarters for its expanding European operations.

Monilink, the UK provider of mobile banking and payments services, is now entirely owned by its parent company Monitise.  Monilink was originally a joint venture between Monitise and VocaLink, which has now sold its 50% stake in the business.

Home Delivery Network, the provider of delivery and collection services for retailers, has acquired G&M Distribution, a former sub-contractor for the company in Scotland.  G&M will continue to operate under its existing name.

The fund management firm Midas Capital has sold its corporate finance division Intelli Partners, and its subsidiary Intelli Corporate Finance, to the investment bank Canaccord Adams.

Chime Communications, the PR and marketing company, is to add another agency to its group of 50 with the acquisition of the sports marketing, media and management agency Essentially for around £18.23m.

The confectionery company Bon Bon Buddies has acquired the branded toy manufacturer Teepee Creative.  Along with the sweetmakers Mr Lucky Bags and Stockleys Sweets, Teepee recently went into administration but it is the first to be sold by administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Unilever is to acquire the global personal care business of the Sara Lee Corporation for €1.275 billion.  As a result, Unilever will add brands such as Sanex and Radox to its portfolio and strengthen its leadership position in the skin care and deodorants market.

The gaming company Praesepe has acquired The Crystal Rooms, a gaming venue in London's Leicester Square.  It will become a flagship venue for the group.

Boom Extreme Publishing, a subsidiary of the television production group Boomerang Plus, has acquired the Method publishing company that produces a snowboarding magazine, website and online television channel.

City Car Club has acquired the pay as you go car rental company WhizzGo, which will adopt the City Car Club brand name.  As a result of the merger the rental service will be available in 15 UK cities.

The law firm Simpson Millar has strengthened its services in the healthcare and education sectors with the acquisition of the specialist firm Maxwell Gillott Solicitors, which will continue to trade under its existing company name.

Mothercare has gained full ownership of the social networking site for parents, Gurgle.com.  The website was originally a joint venture with Fleming Media, which has now sold its 50% stake in the business.

The Co-operative Group has merged with the Plymouth & South West Co-operative Society, which operates several food stores, post offices, petrol stations and funeral homes in Devon and East Cornwall.

N Brown Group, the home shopping retail company, has acquired the High & Mighty menswear brand from administrators for £1.6m.

Tangent Communications, the digital marketing company, has acquired the customer insight agency Snowball for £3.2m.

Sovereign Capital, the private equity firm, has acquired the home care services provider, London Care for £18m.

Synova Capital has acquired Clearwater Care, a group of 14 care homes that provide residential care and support services for people with learning disabilities.

Garnett Dickinson Print, the magazine and catalogue printing company, has acquired Acorn Web Offset from Trader Media Group.

Chemring Group, the defence and military equipment manufacturer, is to acquire Hi-Shear Technology Corporation for £80m.  The US-based Hi-Shear manufactures products for space and defence programmes.

The engineering and construction company Balfour Beatty hopes to expand its global presence with the acquisition of the US professional services firm Parsons Brinckerhoff.  Balfour Beatty is to acquire the company for £380m.

Babcock International Group, the support services company, is to acquire UKAEA Ltd from the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority for £50m.  UKAEA's expertise in nuclear site services will strengthen Babcock's existing nuclear division.

France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom are to merge their UK operations, Orange and T-Mobile. The new joint venture will create the UK's leading mobile operator with more than 28 million customers and a 37% market share. The merger will have to be approved by the competition authorities.

MKM Group, the marketing services company, has sold a 90% stake in its London-based subsidiary Promodus to the recently formed Stripe Marketing.

Merchant Securities, the financial services group, is to acquire the wealth management company Cavendish Young.

The wealth management company Brooks Macdonald Group has completed its first acquisition with the purchase of Lawrence House Fund Managers.  The assets under management at Lawrence House will be integrated into the group's specialist division, Brooks Macdonald Asset Management.

The Go-Ahead Group is to acquire Arriva's bus services in Horsham for £5m.  The purchase includes 19 vehicles and 58 employees, which will become part of Go-Ahead's Metrobus division.

Evolve Capital is to acquire the corporate finance business Whim Gully Capital.  As part of the agreement, Evolve will also obtain St Helen's Capital, which is being purchased by Whim Gully.

HMV Group is to acquire a 50% equity stake in the digital media company 7digital for £7.7m.  7digital will be responsible for HMV's digital operations, and it is hoped that the company's technology and extensive music catalogue will help HMV to grow in the digital entertainment market.

Three Yorkshire property companies established by Warren Hill, Burford Park EstatesProspect Business Centres and Loxley Homes, have been brought together as Monument Investments.

Lloyds TSB Development Capital, the private equity firm, has purchased a majority stake in 1st – The Exchange, a provider of financial services technology solutions.

Facebook has acquired the social networking site FriendFeed, which allows users to share and discuss photos and videos.

Al Fahim Asia Associates, owned by businessman Sulaiman Al Fahim, has completed its acquisition of Portsmouth Football Club.

Primesite, the outdoor advertising company, has acquired the roadside billboard estate of Titan Outdoor Advertising, adding 8,600 panels to Primesite's portfolio.  Titan will now focus on its rail and retail divisions.

TradeLabs, an algorithm trading company, has acquired the Hong Kong-based IT distribution company Right Deal for up to $1.25m.

In its second acquisition of the year, the training solutions provider Redtray has purchased PPi Learning Services.

Acorn, the training and recruitment agency, has acquired the technical recruitment firm Oracle Global Resourcing.  The purchase of Oracle, which will now trade as Exxell, strengthens Acorn's presence in the South East.

C&C Group, the manufacturer and distributor of branded alcoholic drinks such as Bulmers and Magners, has acquired certain assets of Anheuser-Busch InBev for £180m.  This includes the Irish, Northern Irish and Scottish divisions of the company and the Tennent's lager brand.

The housing and care provider Housing 21 is to purchase Claimar Care for £19.5m.  The deal is unusual as it sees a not-for-profit organisation acquire a PLC.

The private equity firm Silverfleet Capital is to acquire the German company Kalle, a manufacturer of artificial sausage casings, for €212.5m.

James Fisher & Sons, the marine services provider, has acquired the nuclear and aerospace engineering company MB Faber.  The acquired business will trade as JF Faber and operate as part of James Fisher Nuclear Holdings.

The senior management team of Air Energi Group, a recruitment firm for the oil and gas industry, has led a management buyout of the company for £30m.  The deal was backed by Zeus Private Equity.

Orange has acquired the digital advertising network Unanimis, which will continue to trade under its existing name.  It will become part of the Orange Group Advertising Network, allowing advertisers and media agencies to reach over 70% of the online population.

Amcor, the global packaging manufacturer, is to acquire certain divisions of Alcan Packaging from Rio Tinto for $2 billion.  This includes Alcan's global pharmaceuticals business and its European food business.

The financial services company Perspective Financial Group has made its eighth acquisition with the purchase of McGregors Wealth Management.  McGregors will continue to trade under its existing name.

Eve Trakway, the provider of temporary industrial access solutions, has acquired Anglia Traffic Management Group.  Eve Trakway will expand its service offering and its depot network in Cambridge, Kent and Scotland.

The PR firm Hayhurst Media has been acquired by Schwartz Communications, a technology, healthcare and cleantech PR agency, which hopes to benefit from an increased client base in the life sciences and cleantech sectors.

Hollywood Signs and Monster Digital have merged to become Hollywood Monster, the largest provider of signage and digital print services in the Birmingham region.

FleetCor, the fuel card company, has acquired the fuel card division of Retail Decisions in the UK and Ireland.  This is the ninth European acquisition for FleetCor since 2006.

UBC Media, the digital radio services company, has acquired Radio Lynx for £1.6m.  Radio Lynx, which has been sold by Music Marketing Services, creates marketing content for radio stations and websites.

EnergyQuote has acquired John Hall Associates, the energy procurement company, to become one of the largest energy consultancies in Europe.

Associated British Foods has sold its Polish sugar business BSO Poland to the Polish company Pfeifer & Langen.

The BNY Mellon Asset Management division of The Bank of New York Mellon is to acquire Insight Investment Management from Lloyds Banking Group for around £235m.  Insight, the specialist asset management firm, will become a subsidiary within the company.

Scottish and Southern Energy is to acquire Uskmouth Power Company from Welsh Power Group for £27m.  Uskmouth operates a coal-fired power station in Wales where Scottish and Southern currently supplies gas and electricity through its SWALEC subsidiary.

Darwin Private Equity has acquired Hampson Aerospace Machining for £23.7m.  The company, which is a division of Hampson Industries, will be renamed Bromford Industries.

TD Waterhouse, the share dealing and investment firm, has acquired OMX Security Services, an outsourced settlement company.  OMX will be renamed TD Waterhouse Corporate Services.

The telecommunications company Daisy Group continues its expansion with the acquisition of Redstone Telecom for £17m.

The fund management company AnaCap Financial Partners is to acquire Cattles Invoice Finance from Cattles plc for around £70m.  AnaCap hopes to expand within the SME market currently served by CIF.

The recruitment company Spring Group is to be acquired by Adecco through its subsidiary Adecco UK Holdco, for around £107m.

VINCI Construction UK has acquired Haymills Group, the property construction and maintenance company, which recently went into administration.  The acquisition saves around 430 jobs.

JCT600 Group has acquired its first Audi dealerships from the Gilder Group.  JCT600, which already has 44 car dealerships in Yorkshire and the North East, has purchased two sites in Hull and York.

NCO Europe, the business process outsourcing company, has acquired the credit and debt recovery firm Complete Credit Management from Severn Trent Services Group.

Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt, the personnel and financial services companies, are to merge.  The combined firm will be called Towers Watson & Co.

Walstead Investments has acquired the commercial and magazine printer Southernprint from Newsquest Media Group.  The purchase sees Walstead expand upon its previous acquisition of the Wyndeham Press Group in 2008.

Accenture is to acquire the professional services unit of Nokia responsible for providing engineering and customer support for the Symbian smartphone operating system.  Around 165 staff are expected to transfer to Accenture.

The metal trading business Wogen is to be acquired by Sanctuary Partners, a company established by the Wogen management team.

Coffee Republic has been bought out of administration by the property investment company Arab Investments.

Lavendon Group, the rental company specialising in powered access equipment, has acquired the trade and assets of EPL Access for £1.3m, which includes seven depots and 320 rental units.

The footwear retailer Mr Shoes has been bought out of administration by the company's previous directors, through a newly formed business, Glayone.  As a result, nine stores and 53 jobs have been saved.

The East of England Co-operative Society has sold its department and home stores to Vergo Retail.

The web hosting and domain registration companies LCN.com and Telivo.com have merged.   The company will operate under the LCN brand name.

Dawson News, the newspaper and magazine distribution division of Dawson Holdings, has gone into administration.  As a result, certain assets have been sold to Smiths News for £1.5m and John Menzies for £500,000.  Dawson's remaining businesses, Dawson Media Direct, Dawson Books and Dawson Marketing Services will continue to trade.

A 50.1% stake in Digital Window, the affiliate marketing network operator, has been acquired by two European media companies.  Axel Springer, the German newspaper publisher, and PubliGroupe, the Swiss media marketing agency, hope the investment will strengthen their position in the UK.

JD Sports has acquired its second rugby apparel brand in 2009, with the purchase of Canterbury Europe for £6.5m.  JD also acquired Kooga Rugby in July.

Philip Downer and Mark Little, the chief executive and finance director of the book retailer, Borders have led a management buy-out of the company, backed by Valco Capital Partners.

The debt collection company Robinson Way & Co has been acquired by its directors from its parent company London Scottish Bank, which went into administration in 2008.

Lombok, the home furnishings retailer, has been acquired by a financial consortium led by the investment firms, Privet Capital and Paradigm.  The acquisition ensures that 14 of Lombok's 19 stores can continue to trade and that 124 of 161 jobs will be saved.

Systemax, the US computer retailer, is to acquire WStore Europe, which supplies IT products to businesses and operates in the UK and France.

The property website Zoopla.co.uk continues its expansion with the acquisition of the PropertyFinder Group from News International.  Websites such as propertyfinder.com, HotProperty.co.uk and UKPropertyshop.co.uk will be integrated into Zoopla's service, which will also gain an extra three million visitors a month.

Publicis Groupe, the international communications company, is to acquire the digital marketing agency, Razorfish for £318m.  Razorfish, which has been sold by Microsoft, will become part of the VivaKi digital platforms network at Publicis.

brightsolid, the provider of IT business services, is to acquire the Friends Reunited Group from ITV for £25m.  The acquisition will bring together several genealogy websites as the Friends Reunited Group owns Genes Reunited, and brightsolid operates several websites in this sector such as findmypast.com and scotlandspeople.gov.uk.

Daisy Group, the business telecommunications company, has acquired business technology firm AT Communications, and telecoms and IT supplier Eurotel.

Next Fifteen Communications has added a fifth subsidiary brand to its group of PR companies.  It has acquired the US-based M Booth, which will eventually integrate with Lexis Public Relations, to create a global consumer agency.

PuriCore, the life sciences company, has acquired Labcaire Systems, a supplier of endoscope disinfection equipment and air filtration systems.  The Labcaire facility in Clevedon, North Somerset will continue to operate.

The mobile phone repair company Total Repair Solutions has been acquired for £6.25m by Regenersis, a provider of after sales support services for technology products.

Holidaybreak, the education, leisure and activity travel group, is to acquire a 150 acre site to develop a new outdoor education centre.  Formerly the site of The Liddington Hotel, the centre has been purchased from administrators for £9.44m.

The Centrica subsidiary British Gas Business has acquired the Newnova Group for around £3.5m.  The group, which provides energy management and control systems for the building services industry, will retain its trade names, BMS Solutions and BMS Setpoint.

MITIE Group, the property services company, has acquired Dalkia Technical Facilities Management for around £130m.

Avisen, the performance management company, has acquired the IBM reseller, Inca for £3.5m.  As a result, Avisen will become a leading IBM Cognos reseller and enhance its technology consultancy services.

The financial services provider Friends Provident is to be acquired by Resolution Holdings, which will be renamed Friends Provident Holdings.

Modelzone Holdings, the owner of the model retailer, Modelzone has completed a management buyout for £5.6m.  The deal is backed by LloydsTSB Development Capital, the private equity arm of the Lloyds Banking Group.

Astaire Group, the specialist investment banking business, has acquired the corporate finance company Ruegg.

In its third acquisition of the year, the mobile communications technology provider 2ergo has acquired the ActiveMedia Technologies Group, which operates in the UK and India.  AMT specialises in mobile couponing solutions and has provided the technology for campaigns such as ‘Orange Wednesdays'.

PR Newswire, the marketing services subsidiary of United Business Media, has acquired a US-based website software company The Fuel Team for $2.5m.

Transport for London has sold the assets of East Thames Buses to the Go-Ahead Group for £5m.  TfL hopes to save £30m in nine years as a result of the sale, which sees East Thames Buses incorporated into the Go-Ahead London Bus Company.

Innovise, the managed services and software company, has acquired RapidHost, a managed hosting services provider.  RapidHost will eventually become part of Innovise's managed services division.

The online gaming company PartyGaming has acquired the bingo website operator Cashcade for £95.9m.  PartyGaming hopes to expand within the popular online bingo market, in which Cashcade is responsible for leading brands such as Think Bingo and Foxy Bingo.

The property development company Telford Homes has acquired Clifford Contracting for £6.2m.

The demolition and civil engineering contractor Keltbray has acquired Gamble Rail from administrators.  Gamble Rail, which specialises in track maintenance and renewal projects, will retain its trading name and operate as a division of Keltbray.

Titan Technology Partners, the US-based provider of consultancy and outsourced industry solutions, has acquired the UK company Application Lynx.

GHA Livigunn, the engineering design consultancy, has merged with Birkett Stevens Colman Partnership, a civil and structural design consultancy.  At present, the companies will continue to trade under their existing names.

The customer intelligence and data analysis company Webtrends has acquired Widemile, a provider of testing and targeting services for online marketers.

IBM has strengthened its business analytics capabilities with the acquisition of the analytics software and services provider SPSS for $1.2 billion.  SPSS will be integrated into IBM's information management software division.

The engineering and project management company Amec has acquired the Australian company GRD for £52m.  The purchase of GRD, which has mineral projects in Australia, Africa and South America, will strengthen Amec's presence in these regions.

The television, radio and wireless infrastructure provider Arqiva is to acquire the platform assets of Project Kangaroo.  Arqiva plans to launch a new video-on-demand service using the Project Kangaroo platform created by BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4.

The business equity provider Close Growth Capital has been bought out of the financial services group Close Brothers by its executive directors.  The company has been renamed Growth Capital Partners.

Energy Conversion Devices, a US manufacturer of roofing products for the solar power industry, is to acquire the global solar solutions provider Solar Integrated Technologies for $16.3m.

The management team of TSC Foods has completed a management buyout of the company for £24m, with the backing of Key Capital Partners.

Computer 2000, the trade-only distributor of IT products, has strengthened its presence in Ireland by acquiring certain assets of the Irish Autodesk distributor Cadco.  The purchase particularly benefits the design software division of Computer 2000, Datech, which will now manage the Autodesk business from offices in Cork.

STM Group, the financial services provider, has acquired the Luxembourg-based Citadel Group for €1.88m.  Citadel consists of seven companies, which provide corporate and trustee services to Northern European and South African clients.

Huntsworth, the PR and communications group has acquired Tonic Life Communications for £3m.  With the acquisition of the healthcare PR company Huntsworth will expand its own healthcare division.

The utility support services provider, Spice has completed an acquisition through its telecommunications subsidiary, Team Simoco.  The radio communications specialist has acquired the Australian company ComGroup for £6.9m.

Zoopla.co.uk, the property website, has acquired Thinkproperty.com from Guardian Media Group.

The Middle Eastern consortium Munto Finance has completed its acquisition of Notts County Football Club.

Capita Hartshead, the pensions outsourcing arm of The Capita Group, has expanded in London and the South East, with the acquisition of Gissings, the pension consultancy firm.

System C Healthcare, the provider of IT services to the healthcare sector, has expanded into social services with the acquisition of the social care systems provider Liquidlogic for £14.2m.

Advanced Computer Software, the provider of IT services to the primary care sector, has acquired StaffPlan, a software supplier for the homecare industry, for £1.36m.

A subsidiary of the Finsbury Food Group has acquired the speciality bread company Goswell for £2.2m.  Nicholas & Harris has purchased Goswell, which supplies brands such as Vogel and Cranks to UK supermarkets.

Connaught, the integrated service provider for the social housing and public sector, is to acquire the grounds and tree maintenance company Fountains.

Hamworthy, the provider of specialist systems for the marine, oil and gas industries has acquired the technology and products division of the Norwegian oil services company Aibel for £3.5m.  The acquired business will operate as part of Hamworthy's gas systems division.

The founder of Holiday Autos, Clive Jacobs is to acquire the TWgroup and its associated brands, including Travel Weekly UK.

The business email marketing company StrongMail has acquired PopularMedia, a provider of marketing solutions within social networking environments.

The PR agency Freshwater has expanded upon its eight UK-based PR teams with the acquisition of the Irish company Life Communications.

The Norwegian company Bayerngas Norge is to acquire the oil and gas exploration company Genesis Petroleum Corporation for £14.74m.

The international investment company LMS Capital has purchased a majority stake in Updata Infrastructure UK.  LMS has acquired the share in Updata, which provides broadband networks for public sector organisations and mobile operators, for £6.2m and in support of a management buy-out.

In its second acquisition of the year Equiniti, the shareholder and employee services provider, has purchased a firm of chartered secretaries, David Venus.  The company will bring secretarial and specialist corporate governance advice services to Equiniti.

The Irish clinical research organisation ICON has acquired Veeda Laboratories, a subsidiary of Veeda Clinical Research Group.

Alterian, the integrated marketing platform provider, has acquired the social media monitoring company, Techrigy.  Alterian hopes to strengthen its marketing capabilities by engaging directly with consumers online.

Ultra Electronics has acquired the Australian company, Avalon Systems for £8.1m.  Avalon, which specialises in defence electronics, will complement Ultra's work within the security, defence and aerospace industries.

Penna, the human resources consulting group, has acquired Barkers Group after the recruitment advertising agency went into administration.

Liberty Acquisition Holdings (International) has acquired Pearl Group with the intention of injecting up to £510m into the life assurance company.

IDBS, which specialises in research data management software, has acquired InforSense.  The scientific and business data technologies offered by InforSense will contribute to the company's international data sharing capabilities and life sciences portfolio.

In an effort to expand within the professional publishing sector, Bloomsbury Publishing is to acquire Tottel Publishing for £9.96m.  Tottel, which publishes books and journals for lawyers, accountants and business professionals, is to be renamed Bloomsbury Professional.

Domino's Pizza Group has acquired Dresdner Kleinwort Leasing March (2), an equipment leasing division of Dresdner Kleinwort Leasing.

Talisman Energy, the upstream oil and gas company, is to acquire Rift Oil, which has operations in Papua New Guinea.

SDL, the provider of multilingual global information management solutions, has acquired XyEnterprise, the component content management company.  SDL will merge its SDL Trisoft division with XyEnterprise to create a new business unit, SDL XySoft.

GlaxoSmithKline has acquired the branded generics business of the pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb in the Middle East and North Africa for £14.2m.  With this purchase, GSK adds sites in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Libya and Yemen to its previous acquisitions in Pakistan and Egypt.

The heating systems manufacturer, Baxi Group is to merge with the Dutch company De Dietrich Remeha Group creating one of the largest boiler companies in Europe.

The US-based packaging specialist, Bemis Company is to acquire Alcan Packaging Food Americas for $1.2 billion.  Alcan is being sold by the international mining company Rio Tinto, which purchased the business in 2007.

AEC Education has acquired the London-based English language school, Malvern House for up to £3.9m.  This is the first UK acquisition for AEC, which has headquarters in Singapore and a large student network in Asia.

Campbell Hooper Solicitors has merged with the law firm Speechly Bircham.  The combined firm will operate as Speechly Bircham and will be based at the firm's new offices in London.

The building consultancy and quantity surveying company, Baqus has acquired the Nigel Rose Group, a firm of chartered quantity surveyors based in London, Cheltenham, Wokingham and Warrington.

The power generation company, International Power is to sell its Czech subsidiary, International Power Opatovice to the Czech-Slovak investment firm J&T Group for £738.3m.

British American Tobacco has acquired an 85% stake in Bentoel, the fourth largest cigarette maker in Indonesia, for £303m.

Dawson International, the Scottish-based cashmere company, has sold its Todd & Duncan division, to the Chinese company, Ningxia Zhongyin Cashmere Company.  Zhongyin is already a supplier of cashmere fibre to Todd & Duncan, which will be renamed Todd & Duncan Ltd.

Uniq, the convenience foods group that supplies Marks & Spencer, has sold its French company, Marie, to the poultry and delicatessen group, LDC for €60m.

The TEG Group, the specialist in-vessel composting company, has acquired Norfolk-based Banham Compost for £3.2m.

The Local Radio Company has sold two radio stations, Arrow FM and Sovereign Radio, to Media Sound Holdings.

The private equity firm, Charterhouse Capital, has acquired Wood Mackenzie, the Edinburgh-based provider of research and consultancy services to the energy and mining industries.  Charterhouse Capital agreed to fund a management buy-out worth £550m.

The founding management team of the cheese and specialty foods wholesaler, H&B Foods, has regained ownership of the business in a management buy-out.  The parent company, Novel Group went into administration recently prompting the sale.

Bowman International, the bearings and components manufacturer, has purchased Oilite Bearings, which went into administration in 2008.

ICAP, the interdealer broker, has acquired the transactions division of the patent brokerage firm, Ocean Tomo, for $10m.

Lincoln UK, the investments and pensions company, has been acquired by Sun Life Financial of Canada for £195m.

RSA Insurance Group has acquired Intouch Insurance Group, which has operations in Poland, Czech Republic and Russia, for £59.1m.

Executive recruitment and talent management firm, Korn/Ferry has purchased Whitehead Mann.

Pricewaterhouse Coopers has sold four depots in the liquids division of Dairy Farmers of Britain to The Capital Dairy Company.   Another depot based in Cheshunt has been acquired by a dairy in Wiltshire, Braeforge.  As a result, 172 employees will transfer to the new owners.

JD Sports has acquired the sports footwear retailer Chausport, for €8m.  The company has 78 stores in France, which will allow JD to expand outside the UK and Ireland.

HomeServe, provider of emergency related insurance products, has acquired French company SFG for £24m.  SFG specialises in extended warranty services for electrical products.

Former CEO of Friends Reunited, Michael Murphy, has completed a management buy-in of online cashback cooperative, Quidco, which sees him assuming the role of Executive Chairman at the company.

In its first acquisition of a British company, German mobile marketing business, YOC Group has purchased Bluestar Mobile.

Synova Capital, the private equity fund, has expanded its luxury handbags and accessories business, TLG Brands, with the acquisition of Nica.  Nica, which produces handbags, joins the Fiorelli and Modalu brands at TLG.

TKC Direct, the parent company of retailer Route One, has acquired online clothing retailer, Everything but the Music from administrators.

Amery Capital has purchased footwear and accessories brand, Oliver Sweeney, through a new company, McFL Trading.  The company was formed in partnership with footwear manufacturer Tim Cooper, and it acquired Oliver Sweeney from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has sold Lubborn Cheese, a leader in the soft cheese market, to Lactalis McLelland.  The company has also sold the Llandyrnog Creamery, manufacturer of traditional Welsh cheese, to Milk Link.  Both businesses were previously part of the Dairy Farmers of Britain co-operative, which was placed into receivership in June 2009.

Blackrock has acquired Barclays Global Investors for £8.2 billion.  The combined investment management firm will be renamed Blackrock Global Investors.

Capita Group has acquired Carillion IT Services, a division of the building and support services company Carillion, for £36m.

Pinnacle Telecom has acquired Northampton-based reseller, Accent Telecom UK.

THB, the independent insurance and reinsurance broker, has acquired Property Risk Management.  PRM, which specialises in insurance for commercial and residential properties, will be integrated into THB's risk management division.

Bridgepoint Capital Management Group has taken on the management of the direct private equity investment divisions of Hermes Fund Managers.  The Hermes Private Equity team will transfer to Bridgepoint and operate as a separate business division, Bridgepoint Development Capital.

Equiniti has acquired Belfast-based software and services provider ICS Computing, which will enable the company to expand on its share registration services into business process outsourcing.

Galliford Try has acquired the residential development assets of Wright (Hull) Ltd, which consists of five housing sites in Hull and York with 147 plots.

Loss Management Group has acquired E-Register from Helphire Group.  Both companies provide specialist insurance services for jewellery and valuable collectables.

Advanced Computer Software, provider of IT services to the primary care sector, is to buy Business Systems Group, which will expand its effective hosting, managed services and outsourcing capabilities.

The business processor Xchanging has acquired FondsServiceBank (FSB), the investment funds division of DAB Bank, for £19.1m.

2ergo, the mobile communications provider, has acquired Australian-based mobile services agency Wapfly Technologies.  The purchase will enable 2ergo to expand into the Asia-Pacific region.

RM, provider of ICT software and services to the education sector, has acquired education interiors supplier Isis Concepts, for around £2.69m.

Aircraft Medical, a UK manufacturer of medical devices, has acquired Barcelona-based Morpheus Medical, which develops anaesthesia monitoring equipment.

Sheffield Industrial Saws has purchased Spear & Jackson International after the company faced liquidation in April 2009.

Mobile marketing agency Mediaburst has acquired text messaging services company, Promptext.

McKinnon & Clarke, the energy consultancy firm, has purchased its competitor UCA (Utility Cost Analysis).   As a result, UCA's staff will relocate to three regional offices within M&C.

Staffline, a recruitment company with offices throughout the UK, has expanded its presence with the acquisition of Yorkshire-based The Workplace.

Thistle Underwriters, part of the JLT Group, has acquired Ingham & Co, an underwriting agency for the SME market.

Lyris, the US online marketing company, has acquired the UK-based email marketing agency Facultas, with the intention of opening a new central London office and expanding the Lyris global service.  Facultas currently operates as a Lyris reseller.

Sunday, a customer publishing business, has acquired the digital design agency, Goose Creative.

PSL Tool Hire has expanded its business with the acquisition of M&R Hire Centres.

Following the acquisition of Panacea Services in February, IT provider Kelway continues its growth with the purchase of Repton plc.  Kelway now employs over 350 staff in seven regional offices with a turnover exceeding £180m.

Augustus Martin, provider of POS communications, has acquired the litho and digital business Walkersmcr.  The company will now trade as Walkers Instore and retain its 42 members of staff.

Digital marketing organisation TMN Group is to acquire the B2B publishing company and information provider, Progressive Digital Media Group, in a reverse takeover.  Mike Danson, the owner of Progressive and a non-executive director of TMN since October 2008, will receive 85% of the company's share capital.

National Express Group has sold its London bus business, Travel London, to Dutch company NedRailways for £32m.  The sale will include 36 Transport for London routes, 30 Surrey County Council and Kingston University services and the transfer of all 1,600 staff.

The US company Advanced Computer Services is to acquire Anix, a division of UK IT services group Xploite, for £31.5m.  The agreement will see ACS expand its global presence and gain more than 150 employees.

Braveheart Investment Group has acquired the Yorkshire-based specialist investment business Inkopo for up to £1.31m.

West Ham United has been sold to CB Holding, an asset management company which is majority-owned by the Icelandic investment bank Straumur-Burdaras.

Capita Group has acquired the European loan administration, asset management administration and commercial
mortgage backed securities administration services division of Capmark Financial Group for £10m. The deal includes Capmark Services UK, which will become part of Capita Fiduciary Group.

Amlin is to acquire Fortis Corporate Insurance from the Netherlands government for €350m, in a move that establishes the UK firm as a leading provider of marine, liability and commercial property insurance in the Netherlands and Belgium.

UKRD has taken over The Local Radio Company, adding more than 25 radio stations to its network.

The administrators of Bay Trading have sold the business to Rinku Group, the owner of the retail brands Tigi-Wear, Viz-a-Viz and iZ. Rinku has acquired 45 Bay Trading stores, 85 Bay Trading concessions, together with Bay Trading's stock and intellectual property. The deal will safeguard 566 jobs but 1,200 employees will be made redundant.

Close Brothers Group is to sell its corporate finance advisory business Close Brothers Corporate Finance to Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe for £67m. Close Brothers will now focus on its three larger divisions, Banking, Asset Management and Securities.

QinetiQ Group has agreed to sell its Winfrith-based underwater systems business to Atlas Elektronik UK for £23.5m.  Atlas Elektronik is jointly owned by ThyssenKrupp and EADS.

Ruffler Bank has been bought by the private equity group AnaCap Financial Partners. 

Charles Taylor Consulting
 has acquired Axiom for up to £7.85m. Axiom is the holding company of a group that provides insurance support services to Lloyd's and London insurance market businesses. Following the acquisition, Axiom will be integrated into a new Insurance Support Services Division within CTC, which will be led by chief executive, Mike Peachey, and chairman, Andrew Brannon.

The Carphone Warehouse's TalkTalk is to acquire Tiscali's UK operations for £236m. The deal makes TalkTalk the UK's largest residential broadband provider with over 25% market share and 4,250,000 customers.

SovGEM, the emerging market equity finance house, is to acquire the investment bank Hanson Westhouse Holdings.

The British software firm Micro Focus International is to acquire the NASDAQ-listed Borland Software Corporation in a deal that values the American firm at around $75m. Micro Focus says that the enlarged group will benefit from a broadened product portfolio, a large combined customer base, greater penetration of the strategically important US technology market and significant cost synergies. In a separate move Micro Focus is also buying the Application Testing and Automated Software Quality Solutions arm of Compuware Corporation for $80m.

The uninterruptible power supply specialist Chloride Power Protection has acquired Malcolm Power Systems, a company that has 20 years experience of UPS supply and maintenance.

The marketing agency Gyro International is to merge with the US integrated agency HSR to form GyroHSR. The combined entity will have 17 offices across Europe, North America and the Middle East, and employ more than 600 people worldwide.

Hays Travel has bought the failed holiday firm Freedom Direct Holidays, taking on the bookings of 9,000 holidaymakers and the Freedom Direct website and saving the jobs of many of Freedom Direct's employees. Freedom Direct turned over £40m in 2008.

The online market research agency YouGov has acquired the US firm C Horizons in a transaction worth up to $2.7m.

Woodspeen Training is to acquire Futures Training Centres for up to £2.7m. Futures Training Centres offers training to adults, largely under the government's Learndirect and Train to Gain programmes.

The facilities and catering group Hollywood Media Services is to acquire the pre-production and casting studio business The Casting Suite and the production staff agency Production Switchboard.

Ultimate Products has bought the consumer electronics firm Intempo Digital.

The energy services company Hunting plc has acquired the US manufacturer of subsea hydraulic equipment National Coupling Company for $55m.

The corporate travel firm ATP International Group is to buy Instone International, a leading service provider to the marine and offshore industries.

The emerging technologies investment firm Toumaz Holdings has acquired Future Waves UK. Toumaz already owned 76.8% of the semiconductor firm.

Portmeirion Potteries has purchased the Spode and Royal Worcester brand names and intellectual property from the administrators of Royal Worcester Spode. The £3.2m deal does not include the Royal Worcester Spode retail shops, which remain with the administrators.

The enterprise content management company Objective Corporation has acquired Limehouse Software. Limehouse Software has 200 clients in the UK local government sector as well as a growing presence in the US.

Chesnara is to acquire the Swedish life assurance company Moderna Forsakringar Liv for £20.1m. Chesnara is the
owner of Countrywide Assured.

Anglia Business Solutions has acquired Norwich-based Supply Chain Systems from its US parent company AgriWise Inc.

The digital marketing agency Crayon is to merge with the relationship marketing agency Hicklin Slade and Partners.

Oracle is to buy Sun Microsystems for $7.4bn, giving the world's largest enterprise software company ownership of the Java software brand and the Solaris operating system.

GlaxoSmithKline is to acquire the dermatology specialist Stiefel Laboratories for $2.9bn. GSK plans to combine Stiefel with its existing prescription dermatological products and the new division will operate under the Stiefel brand as part of the GSK Group.

COBRA Holdings has acquired the Manchester-based general insurance broker Thornway Insurances. COBRA plans to integrate Thornway into its regional operations in Manchester.

The PR agency Borkowski has bought the events consultancy Beatwax.

The 100-year-old print business Burlington Press has been bought by Bluepoint Cambridge.

Homecraft Rolyan, the supplier of easier living aids, therapy and paediatric products to hospitals, local authorities and retailers, has acquired Mobilis Healthcare, the specialist physiotherapy, podiatry and sports medicine group.

The Swedish pharmaceutical company Orexo has acquired the UK drug delivery business PharmaKodex.

The hardware retailer Robert Dyas has been bought out by its management in a deal thought to be worth £30m. The company was previously owned by the private equity firm Change Capital which saw its investment in the retailer wiped out by the agreement which was necessary to keep the 137-year-old retailer from going into administration. Robert Dyas now plans to develop new product ranges and new store layouts.

The direct marketing group DM plc has acquired PDV, an online and offline lead generation business, in a deal worth up to £1.13m.

Fernau Avionics, which manufactures and supplies ground-based navigational aids to the global aviation market, has been bought by Moog Controls for £32m.

Capita Group has acquired Hero Insurance Services from LV= for £15m. Hero offers vehicle and home insurance through brands including AQuote, 1stQuote, Motorcycles United and Telebikes. It will become part of Capita's insurance intermediary and administration business. In a separate £11.6m acquisition, Capita has taken over CHKS, a provider of healthcare intelligence and quality improvement services to healthcare professionals.

Cheyne Capital Management is to buy the fund of hedge funds manager Altedge Capital.

Barclays has sold its iShares exchange-traded funds business to the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners for £3bn, in a deal that enhances the bank's capital position. iShares was part of Barclays Global Investors and the majority of iShares' 620 employees transfer with the business.

Cranswick is to acquire the pork processing arm of the family-run farming business Bowes of Norfolk for £17m. The acquisition does not include the arable farming business or property portfolio of Bowes and these will be taken on by members of the Bowes family.

The hedge fund GLG Partners has acquired SG Asset Management UK.

Kaboose has sold its UK mother and baby data business, Bounty, to Barclays Private Equity for £54m.

The private equity firm RCapital has acquired the doorstep lender Morses Club.

Entertainment Rights has fallen into administration and immediately been sold by the administrators to the US intellectual property firm Boomerang Media, a company backed by the Chicago-based private equity group GTCR. Entertainment Rights develops and licences children's brands including Rupert The Bear and Postman Pat. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and shareholders will receive no return on their investment.  

Nationwide Building Society has taken over Dunfermline Building Society. The acquisition includes Dunfermline's employees at its 34 branches and retail sites plus Dunfermline's headquarters and over £2bn of retail deposits, but excludes “high risk assets” such as commercial loans, which have been taken on by the government. The deal will increase Nationwide's market share of retail deposits to around 11% and its membership to 15 million. The Dunfermline brand and branch network will continue to operate but it is likely that some back office and central group functions of Dunfermline will no longer be required.

Eidos, the company behind the Tomb Raider video game, has agreed to be taken over by SQEX, a company owned by Square Enix Holdings. Square Enix is a Japanese developer, publisher and distributor of entertainment content including Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Eidos will consequently be de-listed from the London Stock Exchange.

The German company Aurelius has acquired the home shopping group sit-up from Virgin Media. Sit-up owns the digital home shopping channels bid tv, price-drop tv and speed auction tv, and generated income of £242m in 2008.

The telecoms distributor Nimans has acquired its rival Rocom from ATC Group in a £12.45m deal that creates a combined business employing 400 people with a turnover of almost £100m.

The US neuromarketing firm NeuroFocus is to buy its Surrey-based counterpart Neuroco. Both firms use neurological testing to measure brainwaves that show consumers' levels of attention, emotional engagement, and memory retention, as well as eye-tracking and skin-response measurements to monitor people's responses to product design, packaging, branding and marketing.
Neuroco will be renamed NeuroFocus Europe.

IRIS Software Group has acquired the Sussex-based accounting software reseller ATW Information Technology Systems.

The private equity firm Northern Link has taken a majority share in the salmon farm operator Lighthouse Caledonia.

Smiths News has acquired the book wholesaler Bertram for £8.6m. Bertram was formerly part of the Woolworths Group. Smiths News is the UK's leading wholesaler of newspapers and magazines and was formed in 2006 following the demerger of WH Smith plc.

First Derivatives, the Newry-based provider of software and consulting services to financial markets, has acquired an Australian risk management technology firm, Hologram.

The lighting systems specialist FW Thorpe has acquired Solite Europe, a manufacturer of cleanroom lighting equipment.

Ethical Superstore, the supplier of fair trade, organic and eco-friendly products, is merging with the organic and natural products mail order firm Natural Collection.  Andy Redfern, co-founder of Ethical Superstore, becomes chief executive of the combined company, which hopes to increase turnover to £8m for 2009/10.

Egdon Resources, the UK-based oil & gas explorer, has acquired YCI Resources from the Heyco Energy Group.

Valiant Sports has bought the snooker and pool hall operator Rileys. The deal includes 129 Rileys clubs across the UK. However 30 clubs have been closed with immediate effect and the loss of 200 jobs.

JJB Sports has sold its fitness clubs business to Dave Whelan Sports for £83.4m. The purchase covers 53 fitness clubs with approximately 228,600 members across the UK and Ireland, as well as leases relating to 10 planned fitness clubs. The fitness business turned over £138.7m last year and employs 1,500 staff, all of whom will transfer to the purchaser.

Smallbone
, the manufacturer of exclusive kitchen, bedroom and bathroom furniture, has been bought out of administration by Canburg in a move that secures 400 jobs. The deal also includes Smallbone's subsidiary Mark Wilkinson Furniture. Canburg is owned by the entrepreneur Leo Caplan.

Bunzl has acquired the Chessington-based food products distributor W K Thomas and the Peterborough-based cleaning and hygiene products distributor Industrial Supplies. Both businesses were part of the same group of companies that were in administration.

King Express, a supplier of catering equipment and supplies and part of the King UK business, has been sold out of administration to its management team. The administrators were unable to find a buyer for King's contractual business and as a result 320 employees were made redundant.

The security & fire protection firm SectorGuard is to acquire Legion Group, a supplier of parking services and security.
The Carphone Warehouse subsidiary Opal Telecom is to acquire The Airtime Group, the main operating subsidiary of Canisp, which supplies fixed-line communications services to businesses and consumers in the UK. 

Sims Metal Management has acquired the Birmingham-based metals recycler All Metal Recovery.

Johnston Carmichael, one of the largest chartered accountant and business advisory firms in Scotland, is merging with its smaller counterpart Duncan Young & Co

Tangent Communications has acquired the digital agency Lateral. Lateral's clients include Firetrap, Hachette, Paco Rabanne and RSPCA.

The North Sea exploration firm Valiant Petroleum  is to acquire Nor Energy (UK).

Bhs is to be integrated into the Arcadia Group and be run as one of its brands, alongside Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop and Wallis. The move will see the consolidation of functions such as logistics, property and finance. Bhs and Arcadia are both owned by Sir Philip Green.

The direct marketing firms Broadsystem and EuroDirect have merged to become the Marketing Solutions business of Callcredit Information Group. Caroline Worboys takes up the role of managing director of Callcredit Information Group Marketing Solutions, which also incorporates GMAP Consulting and employs 750 people.

The digital advertising specialist Unanimis has acquired the UK-based affiliate network Global Direct Media.

The relationship marketing agency HS&P is to merge with the digital agency Crayon.

The broadcast technology firms Pro-Bel and Snell & Wilcox are to merge. The combined entity will have 2,000 active customers in more than 100 countries.

The sealing technology firm Garlock (Great Britain) has acquired PTM, a manufacturer of rubber moulding and gasket fabrications.

Majestic Wine has acquired the fine wine specialist Lay & Wheeler for £4.75m.

After a brief period of administration, Ennstone plc has been de-listed from London Stock Exchange and its UK and Polish subsidiaries have been sold to Breedon Holdings, a company backed by several financial institutions including Barclays Ventures. Shareholders are not expected to receive any return on their investment but the sale saves 1,000 jobs. Ennstone supplies a range of products and services to the construction sector, including asphalt, aggregates and readymix concrete.

The mobile and hosted IT services provider Genesis Communications has acquired Increase CRM, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM hosted services business of Increase Ltd.

The accessories retailer Dune has bought Shoe Studio Group out of administration, saving 1,660 jobs. Shoe Studio's footwear brands include Pied a Terre, Bertie and Nine West.

The stockbrokers WH Ireland and Blue Oar are to merge in a deal that will see WH Ireland pay around £16.2m for the entire issued share capital of Blue Oar.

The administrators of Waterford Wedgwood UK have sold the company to KPS Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm. The acquisition includes the assets of Waterford, Wedgwood and Royal Doulton in the UK and Ireland.

Harcostar has sold its garden products division to the Leeds-based waste and recycling firm Straight. The division has a range of compost bins, water butts and watering cans.

The law firms Morgan Cole and CIP Solicitors have merged to form a practice with more than 570 staff, including 57 Partners, with offices in Reading, Oxford, Cardiff and Swansea as well as a headquarters in Bristol. The merged firm will operate under the name Morgan Cole.

Avacta Group, the supplier of services and technologies for the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector, has acquired YorkTest Veterinary Services, a York-based provider of allergy testing services to veterinary practices. In two further separate deals, Avacta has also taken over two personalised medicine diagnostics companies: Theragenetics for up to £2m; and the AIM-listed Curidium for £6.18m. Personalised medicine identifies which patients respond more effectively to a particular drug treatment.

The construction and engineering consultant hurleypalmerflatt has acquired the Glasgow-based building services firm, ATCO Consulting

Mears Group has acquired the social housing maintenance firm 3C in a deal worth up to £12.5m.

Meridian Audio has acquired the US consumer electronics company Sooloos.

The private equity firm Graphite Capital has acquired a majority stake in Performance Window Group, which it plans to build into “a substantial and diversified timber building products business”. Part of the investment will fund the group's acquisition of the Oxford-based TimberWindows.com.

Garry Biggs, the managing director of Denby Pottery, has led a £30m management buyout of the 200-year-old firm. The buyout was funded by Valco, the private equity arm of Hilco.

Westminster Group, the AIM-listed fire, safety, security and defence specialist, has acquired the security services organisation Longmoor Services for up to £2.4m. Longmoor's customers include the BBC, Kofi Annan and Al Gore.

Intertek, the quality and safety specialist, has acquired two companies: the US-based engineering consulting firm APTECH Engineering Services Inc, and WISco, a specialist in third-party inspection, expediting and co-ordination services for industrial facility construction and development. WISco has more than 120 full-time staff based in locations across the USA, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and more than 600 freelance contractors.

The French online dating company Meetic is to acquire Match.com's European operations from IAC. Under the terms of the agreement, Match.com is licensing the Match.com brand for its European operations to Meetic, and Meetic will “optimise the two brands on a market-by-market basis”. As well as operating in the UK, Match.com is active in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

ITV Network has sold its 70% shareholding in JFMG to Arqiva for £1m. Arqiva now owns 100% of the company that provides access to the radio spectrum and issues licences for applications such as wireless microphones and wireless cameras. The sale is the latest example of ITV's policy of disposing of its non-core assets. The broadcaster is also thought to be seeking a buyer for Friends Reunited, the social networking website that it bought for £175m in 2005.

The management of Zircotec have completed a management buyout of the high technology heat management and surface engineering specialist. The company's products are used in motorsport and by car manufacturers, tuners and classic car enthusiasts to manage heat effectively.

The North Sea oil firm Dana Petroleum has agreed to buy Canada's Bow Valley Energy for £123m. Bow Valley currently has four oil fields producing in the UK, and the purchase will bring the total of Dana's active UK oil fields to 35.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation have agreed a controversial merger. The proposed combination of the leading live music promoter and the world's biggest ticket agency has led to criticism that it would hold a dominant position in the industry which would lead to higher prices. However the companies concerned say that the merger would lead to “improved access, a more fan-friendly purchasing experience and better ticketing technology”. They also claim that “a very substantial portion of the tickets put on sale to the public for live events goes unsold” and that the merger will ensure increased attendance. The merged company is to be known as Live Nation Entertainment.

AMEC's strategy of buying businesses that provide services to operators in the oil and gas sector continues with its acquisition of the Aberdeen-based oil and gas engineering consultancy Performance Improvements Group.

Tenon, the accountancy and business advisory firm, has acquired HWSEG, a specialist medical accountant and tax adviser. HWSEG was formerly known as Sandison Easson & Gordon. Tenon Medical Services is the third largest medical specialist accountant in the UK with a client base of 420 medical-related practices.

As part of its strategy of focusing on its core insurance and vehicle breakdown activities, Aviva has sold the British School of Motoring and its subsidiaries to Arques Industries. BSM operates a franchised network of around 2,700 driving instructors and has assets of around £36m.

Dimension Data, the South African specialist IT solutions and services company that is listed on the London Stock Exchange, has acquired Teksys, a UK Microsoft infrastructure and licensing services company. Dimension Data plans to combine Teksys with its existing Microsoft Solutions business.

The intellectual property firm Murgitroyd Group has acquired the London-based patent and trade mark attorney practice Raworth Moss & Cook.

CSR is to merge with the US semiconductor firm SiRF in a move that will see the Cambridge-based Bluetooth company strengthen its position in the fast-growing GPS technology market.

Polyformes has acquired the Bedfordshire-based packaging manufacturer Performance Solution Packaging. PSP is one of the few companies holding an accreditation that enables it to supply to the Ministry of Defence  and the aerospace industry.

Payslip stationery and pressure seal equipment specialist, Economailer, has been acquired by Prolog Print Media.

Allport Packaging has acquired the assets and business of Arkadian Packaging.

More than 500 jobs across the UK have been saved following the sale of the retailer Greenwoods Menswear out of administration to Harvest Fancy Hong Kong, a subsidiary of one of China's largest clothing retailers. Greenwoods Menswear has 92 stores throughout the UK, selling suits, shirts, ties and accessories and offering a wedding wear hire service.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has acquired Sustainable Finance, an international advisory firm focused on environmental and social risk management in the financial sector.  In the UK Sustainable Finance will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Mercury Packaging has acquired the food packaging specialist Certiforms. The acquisition will enhance Mercury's print capabilities, production efficiencies and technical expertise, and significantly increase its presence in the food industry.

Transactis, the transactional data provider, has been acquired by the direct marketing firm, CDMS.

dotMailer, the digital marketing agency, has been acquired by West End Ventures in a reverse takeover.  The company will be renamed dotDigitalGroup and its shares will be traded on the PLUS market.

Austin Reed has bought Viyella out of administration, saving 230 jobs. The womenswear manufacturer and retailer collapsed in January, and the deal means that although many outlets have been shut down, 21 Viyella stores and 16 concessions will continue to trade.

Virgin Group has sold its party plan cosmetics and skincare company Virgin Vie At Home to its management team for an undisclosed sum. Ros Simmons, Vie at Home's chief executive, says, “With retail high street sales set to continue to struggle over the next year, we will be moving away from high street sales to a comprehensive direct to consumer model, involving e-commerce and direct mail.” The company plans to recruit and train new consultants and managers, review its existing product range and expand internationally.

Henderson Group is to acquire the troubled New Star Asset Management for £115m. Henderson says that it envisages making cost efficiencies through headcount reduction and transferring New Star's business onto Henderson's operating platforms. Andrew Formica, chief executive of Henderson, said, “Very rarely will you find an opportunity to significantly enhance your strategic position at compelling financial terms. New Star presents such an opportunity for Henderson and enables us to expand our footprint in our key markets, notably the UK retail market”.

The administrators of Woolworths have sold the toy brand Chad Valley and all related intellectual property rights to Home Retail Group, the owner of Argos, for £5m. Separately, the Woolworths brand name and the Ladybird childrenswear brand have been sold to Shop Direct Group. The owner of Great Universal, Kays and Littlewoods plans to re-launch Woolworths as an online store selling a range of products including the Ladybird children's label. Shop Direct is owned by the Barclay Brothers, who also own the Daily Telegraph, The Spectator and the Ritz Hotel.

In a deal worth £9m, Global Traffic Network is to acquire the commercial division of UBC Media Group.  The division supplies traffic and travel information to UK commercial radio stations.

After 259 years on the high streets of Britain, the name of Dollond & Aitchison is to disappear when the company merges with Boots Opticians later this year. The combined business will trade as Boots Opticians and will be the second-biggest player in the UK opticians market behind Specsavers, with around 690 practices, including about 210 franchises, and will employ more than 5,000 people. Alliance Boots will hold a controlling stake in the new company which will be jointly owned with the Italian eyewear specialist, De Rigo.

Unilever is to acquire the global TIGI professional hair product business from Bruno, Guy and Anthony Mascolo, the creators of Toni & Guy. Following the $411.5m acquisition, TIGI will operate as a stand-alone global business unit within Unilever. TIGI has operations in the US, the UK, Italy, Germany and Australia and its brands include Bed Head, Catwalk and S-Factor. The deal does not include the Toni & Guy salon business.

Pfizer is to acquire Wyeth in a $68bn deal that will create the world's biggest biopharmaceutical company.

Britannia Building Society
 and Co-operative Financial Services are to merge, creating what the two businesses call a “super-mutual as an ethical alternative to shareholder-owned banks”. The merged business will be a wholly owned subsidiary of The Co-operative Group and will have £70bn of assets, nine million customers, more than 12,000 employees and over 300 branches. The existing Britannia, Co-operative, Smile and Platform brands will be kept but a single product range is planned once the integration of customer systems is complete. The process of integrating the two businesses is anticipated to take three years and significant synergy benefits are expected from procurement and supplier savings.

Autonomy Corporation is to buy the US content management software specialist Interwoven in a $775m deal. Autonomy expects the combination of the two companies to provide significant cross-selling opportunities as well as synergies, specifically in the removal of duplicate administrative, marketing and other costs.

The customer service software specialist Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories has acquired the Canadian enterprise software firm Conseros.

Associated Newspapers has sold a majority interest in the London newspaper the Evening Standard to Evening Press, a company formed by the Russian businessman Alexander Lebedev. A new company called Evening Standard Ltd will be set up to publish the newspaper. Associated Newspapers' parent company DMGT will retain a 24.9% stake in the business.

HMV has bought 14 stores from its ailing rival Zavvi. Zavvi's adminstrator says that 269 employees will transfer across to HMV immediately and the 14 stores will be rebranded as HMV in the coming weeks. In a separate move, HMV is to enter the fast-growing live music market through a 50:50 joint venture with MAMA Group. The new venture, Mean Fiddler Group, will own 11 leading mid-to-large size venues across the UK, including The Hammersmith Apollo, The Forum, The Garage, The Edinburgh Picture House, The Birmingham Institute, Heaven, The Borderline and Moshulu. The venues within the joint venture had total revenues of £20.25m for the latest financial year. As part of the deal, HMV is paying MAMA an initial £18.2m.

The Rugby-based ultra-light electric vehicle manufacturer Aixam Mega has acquired the assets of NICE Car Company, the electric vehicle dealer that went into administration in November 2008.

The web hosting organisation UK2 Group has acquired Virtual Internet, which it plans to operate as a separate brand.

Bloomsbury Publishing has acquired Arden Shakespeare from Cengage Learning. Arden will become part of Methuen Drama, a division of Bloomsbury's A&C Black. Bloomsbury has also purchased John Wisden & Co, publisher of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

The property investment firm Telereal is to purchase Land Securities' property management arm Trillium for £750m.

Mergers and acquisitions 2008
Aspect, a US communications and contact centre software and services provider, has acquired the assets of Applied Information Management (AIM Technology), the provider of performance management software.

The British Computer Society has acquired the Bedford-based international publisher of automated testing software and e-learning material, Activ Training. BCS says that the move will significantly enhance the development of BCS end user and vocational qualifications and their delivery across the world.

Thomas Cook Group has acquired a majority share of the independent travel company Gold Medal International for £24.9m. The company sells its Gold Medal brand through independent travel agencies and also owns Netflights.com, which sells directly to consumers, and a luxury tour operator, Pure Luxury. Thomas Cook is incorporating its Flight Savers scheduled flights brand into the Gold Medal business, which it plans to operate as a standalone entity. Thomas Cook expects cost efficiencies and better distribution generated by the transaction to save it £4m a year.

Aviva has sold the vehicle checking business HPI to Solera Holdings Inc. HPI uses its database of UK vehicles to offer its customers services such as vehicle identity and keeper checks, mileage verification, finance status and valuation. HPI's assets stood at £112m in October 2008.

Royal Bank of Canada is to acquire Mourant Private Wealth, the Jersey-based  private client trust business of Mourant. The acquisition of Mourant Private Wealth adds more than £3.5bn to the £63bn assets RBC Wealth Management has under administration in the British Isles.

The asset manager GLG Partners is to acquire Societe Generale Asset Management UK. SGAMUK manages assets of approximately $8.2bn.

Timpson, the shoe repair and key cutting chain, is buying 187 Max Spielmann and Klick Photopoint photo-processing shops out of administration, saving 545 jobs. The businesses were formerly part of Bowie Castlebank Group, which also owned the Munro Cleaners brand. Max Spielmann and Klick Photopoint are to be rebranded under the fascia “Max” and trade as a division of Timpson group, which will be headed by David Edwards, a former chief executive of Max Spielmann.

Ascribe is to be taken private by its management in a £32.9m deal that will see the healthcare IT systems provider leaving AIM.

The soft drinks firm Nichols has acquired 50% of Dayla Liquid Packing with the option of buying the remaining 50% in 2011 or 2012. The deal gives Nichols the opportunity to use Dayla's new product development and juice manufacturing capabilities to allow it direct access to the growing premium juice market in the UK and overseas. Nichols markets the Vimto brand worldwide and the brands Panda and Sunkist in the UK, as well operating the Cabana, Beacon and Cariel draught cold drinks dispense businesses.

In a deal worth £1.8m, Carpetright has bought Sleepright UK, the bed retailer that currently operates from 93 outlets within Carpetright stores.

Compass Group has acquired the North American staffing firm KIMCO Corporation for $75m.

Esterline Corporation, a US defence industry supplier, is to acquire Racal Acoustics, the provider of military communications equipment, for £115m.

The oil explorer Imperial Energy is to be bought by India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp for £1.4bn.

Aberdeen Asset Management is to acquire the fund management arm of Credit Suisse Group in a £250m all-share transaction.  Aberdeen Asset Management says that the deal will enable it to make substantial cost efficiencies and enhance financial performance.

Brulines Group, the provider of real time monitoring systems and data management services for the UK leisure sector, has bought Vianet out of administration for an undisclosed fee. Based in Dunfermline, Vianet provides telemetry and data capture services to the vending industry. Brulines believes that combining the businesses should provide considerable cost savings, the opportunity to exploit pan-European market opportunities, and synergies with regard to devices, applications and connectivity.  

Ultra Electronics is to acquire Siemens Radmon, the Poole-based provider of neutron and radioactive detection sensors and systems, for about £5m.

Whittard of Chelsea has been sold out of administration to EPIC Private Equity Partners. The specialist tea and coffee retailer has 130 outlets in the UK.

Wyndeham Press
 has been acquired from its Icelandic shareholders by Walstead Investments, a company backed by Bank Leumi. The deal provides Wyndeham with new working capital and significantly reduces its debt. The company plans to make 163 redundancies, change employee terms and conditions and reduce its capacity in response to the downturn in the magazine market.

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals has acquired the UK biotechnology company Thiakis for an initial $30m, which could rise to $120m if certain targets are reached. Thiakis was founded in 2004 to focus on developing medicines for the treatment of obesity based on original research conducted by Professor Steve Bloom and his colleagues at Imperial College London. 

The packaging group Benson has acquired the order book and various trading assets of Cameron Linn, a food packaging company based in Glasgow.

Communisis has acquired the data services firm Absolute Intuistic  (Ai Data Intelligence) for up to £12.6m.

The German firm Aurelius is taking over Britain's biggest mail order bookseller, Book Club Associates (BCA). The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Blacks Leisure, the retailer and wholesaler of outdoor wear, has agreed to transfer the operation of the O'Neill wholesale business in the UK to O'Neill Europe. The UK wholesale operation will become a full subsidiary of O'Neill Europe with the complete current sales force for the O'Neill brand in the UK transferring with the business.  Blacks will then concentrate on its core retail activities.

Card Factory has bought 76 of the 280 stores of the collapsed greetings card retail group Celebrations, saving 500 jobs. Celebrations owned the Card Warehouse and Card Fair brands and went into administration in November 2008.

The supplier of land and property search information Landmark Information has acquired the London-based three dimensional floor planning service Metropix for an undisclosed sum. Metropix generates its 3D floor-plans and building walkthroughs from 2D drawings and is the UK and Ireland market leader.

Home Retail Group, the owner of Argos, is to acquire the exclusive rights to the Alba and Bush electronics brands from Alba plc for £15.25m.  As a result of the deal, Alba plc, which also owns the brands Harvard Maritime, Goodmans and Grundig, will change its name to Harvard International plc.

RDF Media has agreed to be bought by a consortium made up of its senior management and the founder of Endemol, John De Mol.  The deal values the maker of Wife SwapLocation, Location, LocationScrapheap Challenge  and  Anthea Turner: Perfect Housewife at £52m.

Extreme Group, the extreme sports specialist that owns Extremepie.com, has bought the supplier of snowboarding and surfing equipment, Urban Surfer.

Sunquest Information Systems is to acquire Anglia Healthcare Systems, a provider of software development and support for primary and secondary care trusts.

Bibby Line Group has acquired Garic, a specialist manufacturer and hirer of equipment for the construction industry.

SSL International
 is to buy the Crest condom brand from its Swiss owners for £3.8m.  Garry Watts, SSL's chief executive, said: “Crest is a strong brand in Switzerland and allows SSL to assume market leadership in another European market”. SSL is the owner of the Durex brand.

Internacionale Retail has bought the bulk of the business of the discount fashion retailer Mark One. Internacionale, which has 60 women's fashion shops across the UK, takes on 85 Mark One stores, saving 800 jobs. In November Mark One was placed in administration for the second time this year.  In May the company, which was known as MK One at the time, was bought out of administration by Jet Star Retail and relaunched but it struggled to compete with much bigger rivals such as Primark and the supermarkets.

Associated British Foods, the owner of British Sugar, has agreed in principle to buy Azucarera Ebro, the sugar business of the Spanish firm Ebro Puleva.  Azucarera Ebro supplies 50% of the sugar consumed in Iberia. British Sugar is the second-largest sugar producer in the world, producing four million tonnes of sugar each year.

The Japanese company Mitsubishi Rayon is to acquire Lucite International Group for $1.6bn. Lucite was formed in 1993 by the amalgamation of the acrylics businesses of ICI and DuPont. It owns the Perspex and Lucite brands and is the world's leading manufacturer of methyl methacrylate, which is used in the manufacture of acrylic plastics.

Coca-Cola GB is to acquire Waters & Robson Holdings, the owner of Abbey Well natural mineral water. Abbey Well water is sourced in Morpeth, Northumberland, and will be bottled and distributed by Coca-Cola Enterprises. The Abbey Well site and its employees will be transferred to Coca-Cola Enterprises on completion of the deal. Coca-Cola GB also owns the Malvern water brand.

Private equity firm Carlyle has acquired the manufacturer of equipment and parts for the aerospace industry, Gardner Group. The company, whose customers include Airbus, Rolls-Royce, GKN and BAe Systems, was acquired from Dunedin and Rolls-Royce for an undisclosed sum.

The speciality cheese producer Ilchester Cheese has been bought by Tine, the largest Norwegian milk co-operative and best known in the UK as the maker of Jarlsberg cheese. With the brands Applewood, Mexicana and Five Counties, Ilchester is the leading producer of blended cheese in the UK. It also exports its cheese to 25 countries.

MPG Books has acquired the assets of Biddles, to form MPG Biddles, which it says is the largest independent book manufacturer in the UK.

Jeffersons, which offers private jet holidays, has bought the luxury holiday brand Aspire Holidays. Aspire was formerly part of XL Leisure Group, which collapsed earlier this year.

Laing O'Rourke heads a consortium that has bought most of Bison Concrete Products out of administration. The operating facilities in Burton, Falkirk, Swadlincote and Uddingston have transferred to the new company, Bison Manufacturing.

In a deal worth £1.1m, Hire Station, a subsidiary of the equipment rental specialist VP plc, has acquired the Brighton-based tool hire and sales company,  Power Tool Supplies.

The 40-year-old civil engineering and construction firm Toft Johnson has been bought by Wrekin Group.

Mortgage Broking Services has been acquired from Manchester Building Society by a rival mortgage network Network Data for £2.2m.

GIL Investments has bought the specialist flexible plastic film supplier Camvac from Amcor Flexibles.

QinetiQ has acquired the Oxford-based provider of tender assessment and management software, Commerce Decisions, for £9.85m. Commerce Decisions can count most government departments, the NHS and local authorities among its clients. QinetiQ's chief operating officer, Clive Richardson, said that the acquisition “strengthens QinetiQ's consulting offering and complements our portfolio in capability definition and acquisition support”.

Wincanton, the logistics firm, is to merge its UK chilled business activities with Culina Logistics. The combined business, which turned over around £205m in the year 2007/8, will be majority-owned, managed and operated by Culina, with Wincanton owning 20%.

NCC Group, the provider of IT assurance, security and consultancy services, has acquired Next Generation Security Software for up to £10m.

Aviva has sold Auto Windscreens, the UK's second-largest vehicle glazing company, to the German restructuring firm, Arques Industries.

Coexis
, a developer of technology and applications for the global securities industry, is to be acquired by GBST, an Australian provider of software for the financial services sector.

Dolphin Computer Access has acquired Software Express Distribution. Both companies supply tools for vision-impaired computer users.

Britain's sixth-largest building society, the Skipton, is to merge with the 17th-largest, the Scarborough. The merged society will have around 860,000 members and over £16bn of assets and be known as Skipton Building Society. The Scarborough, which was formed in 1846, has seen its profits dwindle in the current difficult economic climate and approached the Skipton with a view to the merger.

npower renewables, the UK subsidiary of RWE Innogy, has acquired 50% of Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds from Scottish and Southern Energy. The Greater Gabbard site is located 25 kilometres off the coast of Suffolk and will comprise 140 wind turbines when it is completed in 2011.

The stockbroker Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Capital Markets has been bought by its management from the administrators of Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander and renamed Singer Capital Markets. Kaupthing was one of the Icelandic banks that collapsed in September.

In a deal that is thought to be worth approaching £1.5bn, a consortium made up of Antin Infrastructure Partners, Deutsche Bank and Lloyds TSB is to acquire Porterbrook Leasing Company. Porterbrook owns a fleet of more than 5,500 trains and freight wagons that it leases to 17 of the 24 UK passenger train operating companies as well as the major UK freight operators. The company bought about a third of the UK rolling stock when British Rail was privatised.

BG Group is to buy Australia's leading coal seam gas producer, the Queensland Gas Company, for £2.2bn. The acquisition will strengthen the British gas producer's position in the important Asia-Pacific liquefied natural gas market.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation and LCH.Clearnet, respectively the biggest clearing houses in the US and Europe, are to merge to create the world's leading clearing house. The firms anticipate that synergies will save the merged group approximately 7- 8% of their current combined operating costs. A clearing house is the intermediary between two parties who are trading shares or derivatives and acts as a guarantor to the trade.

The travel industry software specialist Comtec Group has acquired the CRM software developer Pro EQ.

The Leeds-based IHR Group has acquired the parts of the recruitment firm Ellis Fairbank that deal with the energy, transportation, FMCG, oil & gas, construction, print & packaging, business services, HR, legal and medical business sectors.

The US risk management and corporate governance firm RiskMetrics Group has acquired Applied4 Technology, a specialist provider of investment performance measurement technology.

NWF Group has sold its garden centres division to Notcutts for £14.5m.

Synergy Financial Systems has been acquired for £2.5m by BBP, a Swiss-based subsidiary of the US payment systems firm Fundtech.

The US firm Kohler Global Power Group has acquired the Hungerford-based uninterruptible power supply specialist, UPS Systems.

Yorkshire Building Society is to take over the Barnsley Building Society. The Barnsley had deposited around £10m in two failed Icelandic banks, and while its reserves could cover the losses, its board feared that the news would lead to customers withdrawing their funds, so it approached its bigger rival for help. The combined society will be called Yorkshire Building Society, but the Barnsley's identity and name will be retained in the Barnsley area.

Red Bee Media has bought the Spanish subtitling and audio description company Mundovisió. Red Bee Media, which was sold off by the BBC in 2005, is the market leader in subtitling, signing and audio description in the UK, France, Germany and Australia. It produces over 70,000 hours of subtitling each year, of which 20,000 hours are subtitled live.

William Hill has acquired an affiliate marketing business, customer services operation and gaming brands and websites from the gaming software firm Playtech. The bookmaker says that the acquisition will make the newly created William Hill Online the “leading European online gaming and sports betting operation and the clear leader in online gaming and sports betting amongst UK land based gaming and betting operators”. Playtech will own 29% of William Hill Online, with William Hill owning 71%. William Hill anticipates the capital expenditure, transaction costs and integration costs of the deal to amount to £24m and expects the integration to take six to nine months.

The vehicle rental broker Nexus Vehicle Rental has acquired the vehicle rental management arm of FMG Support. Nexus says that the acquisition, which is backed by ISIS Equity Partners, provides it with a significant growth in its customer base and complements its services.

In a multi-million pound deal, Stuart Garner, the owner of Norton Racing, has bought the trademarks and development work relating to the Norton motorcycle brand. Norton Racing is already developing a race bike and now plans to introduce a new road bike in 2009. Norton has also invested in a new 15,000 sq foot factory and office complex at Donington Park and intends to launch a licensing programme that will cover a variety of products including spare parts and clothing. Norton, seen as the quintessential British motorbike brand, was sold to a US firm in the 1990s.

AMEC has sold its UK wind development business, AMEC Wind Energy, to the Swedish energy firm Vattenfall for £126.6m.

Alliance Boots is to acquire the French pharmaceutical products distributor Depolabo. The Marseilles-based company operates four warehouses across France and has about 600 employees. The acquisition will accelerate the expansion of Alliance Boots' pre-wholesale and contract logistics services in Europe and add to its range of added-value services for pharmaceutical manufacturers. Separately Alliance Boots has acquired a 90% stake in megapharm GmbH, a German distributor of oncology products that had a revenue of £235m last year. 

Symantec, the world leader in security software, has bought MessageLabs, the Gloucester-based provider of online messaging security services, for $695m. MessageLabs is the number one provider of online messaging security worldwide with more than eight million users.

Next has acquired Lipsy for an initial £17.4m. Lipsy distributes its young women's fashion products through various high street retailers, in catalogues and online.

After months of resistance, the research group TNS has reluctantly given in to a £1.1bn takeover by WPP. Earlier in 2008 TNS agreed a merger with its German counterpart GfK, but the deal was gatecrashed by WPP, which launched a hostile takeover bid for TNS.

The plastic and fibre products supplier Filtrona is to buy the Michigan-based foam products firm Lendell Manufacturing for $35m. Following the acquisition, Filtrona's Bonded Fibre Components division is being renamed the Porous Technologies division and will include Lendell and Filtrona's existing Fibertec business.

Springer Science+Business Media is to acquire the science, technology, and medicine publishing house BioMed Central Group.

Zenith Hygiene Group has agreed to be bought for £2.58m by a vehicle led by Zenith's founder and former chief executive, Ringo Francis, who set up the supplier of detergents, hygiene papers and ancillary products in 1996. The company operates out of five distribution centres in Droitwich, Elland, Leicester, Swanley, and Welham Green and floated on the stockmarket in 2005.

The women's fashion brand Ghost has been bought out of administration by Touker Suleyman, the managing director of the shirt maker Hawes & Curtis. There are more than 30 Ghost outlets and the brand will be relaunched in 2009.

The foodservice wholesaler and distributor Brakes has taken a majority stake in the Lisburn-based O'Kane Foodservice. Chief executive of Brakes, Frank McKay, says, ”We are committed to on-going investment in O'Kane Foodservice to ensure many more new Irish business opportunities are secured."

The advertising agency Doner Cardwell Hawkins has merged with the direct digital firm Squeeze Digital. The new company will be known as DCH and has clients that include Shell, The Economist and Nikon.

British Gas New Energy has acquired the low carbon solutions company Semplice Energy for £1.5m. Semplice Energy offers consulting, design and systems integration to help businesses reduce their energy usage and invest in the generation of clean energy. Gearoid Lane, managing director of British Gas New Energy, said: “This is another step forward in our development of a broad range of energy efficiency and low-carbon capabilities we can offer business and domestic customers”. 

HSBC is buying almost 90% of the Indonesian bank Bank Ekonomi Raharja Tbk for $607.5m. HSBC says that it sees “enormous growth opportunities ahead for Indonesia”, with its “rich natural resources, thriving commodities trade and foreign direct investment inflows, favourable demographics and the world's fourth largest population of 235 million people”.

Tri-Star Packaging has acquired Rhinopac, a specialist in vacuum packaging systems and food safety that counts Conran Restaurants, Le Gavroche and the Hilton Hotels Corporation as clients.

Digital Marketing Group has acquired the London-based IT systems consultancy and e-commerce specialist Cybercom Group UK from Cybercom Group Europe for a £6m. In a separate deal, DMG has also bought the direct voice marketing firm Gasbox for £1m.

ITV has acquired a majority stake in the German TV production firm Imago TV Film-und Fernsehproduktion for an initial €2m plus a possible further payment of €3.7m, depending on profits. ITV will have the exclusive international rights to distribute and exploit Imago's content, format, and series rights, and has the option to buy the rest of the company in due course.

Ink specialist Flint Group is to acquire the Hertford-based powder manufacturer Russell-Webb. The business will be integrated into Flint Group's press room consumables division, Day International. The coatings division of Russell-Webb continues as an independent company, RW Coatings.

The US electronic components distributor Avnet is to buy its British counterpart Abacus for £42.2m.

Bradford & Bingley has become the latest victim of the global financial crisis. The bank's branches and its savings customers have been sold to Abbey for £600m and the rest of the business has been taken into temporary public ownership. Bradford & Bingley was one of the lenders most exposed to the UK buy-to-let market, which has all but collapsed. It was the last remaining independent bank among the former building societies that demutualised as a result of the Thatcher government's Building Societies Act of 1986.

The publisher of the Harry Potter books, Bloomsbury Publishing, is to strengthen its position in the academic publishing market with the acquisition of Oxford International Publishers for £2m. Oxford International trades as Berg Publishers and produces books for students on the subjects of fashion, design and culture studies. Bloomsbury recently launched Bloomsbury Academic, which will focus on the humanities and social sciences.

Domiciliary Care Glasgow has been bought by the Baird Private Equity backed company Choices Holdings for an undisclosed sum. Choices provides supported living and residential care for people with learning disabilities. Clydebank-based DCG employs about 350 staff and provides services in five Local Authority areas in Scotland. Choices describes the acquisition as a “complementary strategic fit” that will extend both its services and its geographical footprint.

The Invensys subsidiary Invensys Rail Group has acquired the Florida-based Quantum Engineering, a signalling and train controls company, for $38m. As well as increasing the profile of IRG in the US, the acquisition will allow the British company to market Quantum's technology globally.

The low-carbon energy company Eclipse Energy UK is to be bought by Vattenfall AB of Sweden for £51.5m.

Centrica is to buy Caythorpe Gas Storage from Warwick Energy for £70m. CGS owns the largely depleted Caythorpe gas producing field near Bridlington, which it has planning permission to convert to a gas storage facility with a capacity of up to 7.5bn cubic feet. Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of Centrica, said: "With the UK rapidly becoming more dependent on imported gas, increasing the country's gas storage capacity is an essential element in giving our customers security of supply".

The Centrica subsidiary GB Gas Holdings has acquired Solar Technologies Group for £2.8m. The acquisition will enable British Gas to install solar photovoltaic technology, which converts sunlight into electrical energy, for its residential, business and public sector customers in the UK. Gearóid Lane, managing director of British Gas New Energy, said: “These technologies will become increasingly important as the UK implements policies to meet its stretching renewable energy and carbon emissions targets.  And with British Gas's energy experts supporting millions of Britain's homes and business, we are uniquely positioned to deliver".

IG Group is to acquire an 87.5% stake in FXOnline, a Japanese online retail FX trading company, for £112.2m. IG also has the option to acquire the remaining 12.5% of the company in 2011.

IDOX Group, the supplier of software to the local government sector, has acquired its rival, Plantech.

Global performance improvement company Grass Roots has bought the venue-sourcing company HBI, formerly Hotel Brokers International.

British Energy is to be bought by EDF in a deal that values the UK's largest electricity generator at £12.5bn. The British government has put nuclear power at the heart of its energy policy and the purchase of British Energy will make EDF responsible for building four new nuclear power stations in the UK, as well extending the operational life of British Energy's eight existing nuclear power stations. EDF is majority-owned by the French government. Centrica is in negotiations with EDF to become a 25% partner in British Energy.

Nomura, the Japanese investment bank, is to acquire the European and Middle Eastern equities and investment banking operations of the collapsed Lehman Brothers. The deal will save 2,500 jobs and includes the Lehman Brothers offices in The UK, Netherlands, Qatar, Dubai, Kuwait, Spain, Italy, Germany and Sweden. The deal does not include any trading assets or trading liabilities and Nomura will pay an undisclosed sum for the businesses. Kenichi Watanabe, Nomura's CEO, said: "Our immediate priority is to get the equity and investment banking divisions back in business operating under the Nomura name."

Lloyds TSB is to take over the ailing Halifax Bank of Scotland in an all share deal that values HBOS at £12.2bn. The merger will create the UK's largest financial services group – Lloyds TSB also owns Scottish Widows and Cheltenham & Gloucester – and in other times would have been blocked by the Competition Commission, but the usual rules have been waived due to the unprecedented nature of the global financial crisis. The enlarged group will close hundreds of bank branches and tens of thousands of jobs are likely to go where there are role duplications, such as at head offices, call centres and in back office operations.

Beazley Group is to acquire Momentum Underwriting Management, a specialist personal accident and life underwriting management agency, for £20.6m. Beazley manages two Lloyd's syndicates and has an underwriting capacity of £814m.

NBTY Europe, the parent company of Holland & Barrett, has bought rival health food stores chain Julian Graves from the Icelandic investment firm Baugur. Holland & Barrett has 544 stores in the UK and Ireland and the group owns an additional 31 GNC-branded outlets. The purchase of the 345 Julian Graves stores takes the number of outlets in the group to nearly 1000.

In a move that will create one of the UK's biggest biopharmaceutical companies, BTG is to buy Protherics in a deal that values Protherics at £218.1m. The companies anticipate that the merger will give the enlarged entity annual cost synergies of around £20m by 2010/11.

Barclays Bank has agreed to acquire the collapsed Lehman Brothers' North American investment banking and capital markets operations and supporting infrastructure for £140m, and will be merging them into Barclays Capital. The deal includes approximately 10,000 employees, trading assets of £40bn and liabilities of £38bn. Barclays' president, Bob Diamond described the deal as “a once in a lifetime opportunity for Barclays”.

Standard Life is to acquire Vebnet for £24.2m. Vebnet provides technology and managed services related to employee benefit programmes, including reward consultancy, benefit scheme design, communications, brokering, technology, helpdesk and outsourced administration. Sandy Crombie, group chief executive of Standard Life, said, "The combination of Vebnet and Standard Life will provide significant opportunities in the corporate market.  This is a rapidly evolving market and an increasingly important part of our business.”

GKN has agreed to acquire the UK wing component manufacturing and assemblies operation of Airbus, which is located at Filton, near Bristol. The £136m acquisition is described as having a “compelling” strategic logic by GKN's chief executive, Sir Kevin Smith, who adds, “Filton is already a centre of excellence in metallic structures for Airbus and we intend to invest in the operation so that it also becomes a centre of excellence in composite wing structures serving the global aerospace market.”

Nestor Healthcare Group is to sell its social care franchise business Carewatch to the private equity firm Lyceum Capital for £37m.

Celador Radio Broadcasting has acquired the south coast station Original106FM from the Canadian media firm Canwest.

In a $1bn deal, the Scottish engineering group Clyde Blowers is to acquire the Fluid and Power divisions of the US firm Textron. The divisions comprise four companies: The Huddersfield-based David Brown Gear SystemsDavid Brown Hydraulics, which is based in Poole; Maag Pumps Systems, which has its headquarters in Switzerland and operates at eight locations in seven countries; and Union Pumps which has 10 locations in six countries, including the US, Canada, France and the UK. Union Pumps will integrate with the Clyde Blowers subsidiary Clyde Pumps while the remaining three companies being acquired will operate as separate entities within the Clyde Blowers Group.

August Equity has funded a £37m buy-in management buy-out of Accura Support Services, a provider of components to the oil and gas and aerospace industries. Accura operates two separate divisions, offering supply chain services through Linvic Engineering and Concept Steels, while Accura Geometric and Accura Geneva provide manufacturing support services and precision machined components. A spokesman for the private equity firm said, “The deal presents us with an opportunity to back a proven management team in a growing sector, and we are looking forward to working with the management team in continuing its growth.”

In an £80m deal backed by private equity firm Lloyds Development Capital, the vehicle management group Leasedrive Velo has been bought by its management team.

Taylor Wimpey has sold the UK business of Taylor Woodrow Construction to Vinci plc, the parent company of Norwest Holst, for £74m. Taylor Woodrow Construction's focus is on its rail and infrastructure and facilities management activities and the disposal allows Taylor Wimpey to concentrate on its core housebuilding business.

Nationwide Building Society is taking over two of its struggling competitors, The Derbyshire Building Society and The Cheshire Building Society. The two smaller societies made separate approaches to Nationwide when they found themselves in financial difficulty as a result of the global credit crisis and the collapse of the UK housing market; The Derbyshire's exposure to the sub-prime mortgage and commercial loan market gave it a pre-tax loss of £17m for the first half of 2008 while The Cheshire is to report a £10.5m loss for the same period, largely due to a single commercial loan. The merger creates an organisation with almost 15 million members, around 1,000 retail outlets, £191bn of assets and £122bn of retail deposits. Nationwide plans to retain all three brands.

Grupo Ferrovial is to sell Belfast City Airport to ABN Amro Global Infrastructure Fund and Faros Infrastructure Partners for £132.5m. Ferrovial is the owner of BAA, the operator of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Southampton Airports. In August the Competition Commission recommended that BAA should sell two of its three London airports.

Manchester City Football Club
 is to be bought by the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment, a sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates state. The deal is thought to value the club at around £200m. The new owners signalled their intentions to invest heavily in the club by immediately buying the Brazilian player Robinho for a British record fee of £32.5m.

The lottery machine firm Gamingking is to buy the fruit machine operator Orb Holdings through a reverse takeover. Orb supplies 17,000 amusement machines to pubs across the UK and is the second-largest operator in the sector. Following the takeover, the enlarged company will be known as Sceptre Leisure plc.

The security and transactional print services firm BemroseBooth has been acquired by the US private equity firm American Industrial Acquisition Corporation. The company's products include tickets, labels, tags, gift vouchers, pre-paid cards for the telecoms industry and calendars for the business market.

Impress Digital has merged with Eaton Press Print Solutions, creating Icon Print Group.

e2v technologies, the specialist developer and manufacturer of hi-tech components, is to buy the California-based semiconductor firm QP Semiconductor for $65m.

The telecoms company Thus, owner of the Demon Internet brand, has been taken over by Cable & Wireless for £329m.

Liverpool Victoria, the insurance company that is also known as LV=, is to buy the car insurer Highway Insurance Group in a £150m deal.

Serco is to acquire SI International, a provider of information services, technology and outsourcing to the US Department of Defense and government agencies, for $423m. Serco supplies services in a variety of areas, including transport, local government, home affairs, defence, science, health and education, with 90% of its business coming from the public sector.

Imperial Energy
 has agreed to be bought by ONGC Videsh in a deal that values the London-listed oil exploration company at £1.4bn. When Imperial Energy joined the FTSE in 2004 it had a market capitalisation of just £2m. ONGC Videsh is a wholly-owned subsidiary of India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and is the biggest oil and gas exploration and production company in Asia.

Crash barrier manufacturer Hill & Smith is to buy Creative Pultrusions Inc, a US manufacturer of glass reinforced plastic, for up to $21m.

Netstore, the IT security and outsourcing firm, has agreed to be acquired by the IT services group 2e2 for £58.1m.

Synchronica, the provider of mobile email and synchronization software, is acquiring the consumer mobile email technology firm AxisMobile.

Endless, the UK-based investment fund, is to acquire Crown Paints from Akzo Nobel through the funding of a management buyout.  The company owns the paint brands Berger, Crown, Macpherson, Sadolin and Sandtex. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

First Artist Corporation, parent company of Dewynters, the marketing, design and advertising agency focused on the live entertainment industry, is to acquire the US-based entertainment advertising agency SpotCo.

NBGI Private Equity has backed the buyout by Mainpaint of 17 Henry J Beans and Jamies wine bars from the struggling Food & Drink Group. The acquisition also includes 15 international sites and saves 300 jobs. Mainpaint is headed by Nick Tamblyn, the developer of the Tiger Tiger bar brand during his time as chief executive of Chorion.

The software firm Axon has agreed to be bought by the Indian group Infosys Technologies for £407m.

Sportsman Gun Centre, the mail order and internet retailer of hunting and shooting merchandise, has acquired the name and assets of D J Litt, the firearms specialist which collapsed earlier this year.

Teledyne has acquired the defence electronics business of Filtronic for £13m.

Italy's NoemaLife Group has acquired Ferrania LifeWeb, including the Bracknell-based medical imaging business Ferrania UK.

The loss assessors Harris Claims Group and Balcombe Group have merged to form Harris Balcombe LLP.

Aggreko has bought the Canadian rental power specialist Power Plus Rental and Sales.

Philex Petroleum Corporation is to buy Forum Energy in a deal that values the UK-based oil, gas and coal exploration and production company at approximately £13.8m.

Cobham is to acquire the US digital equipment manufacturer GMS Inc for $26m.

Proventec, the provider of specialist steam cleaning and coatings technologies, has bought a 60 per cent stake in the 400-year-old German engineering business Frank GmbH.

NBC Universal has bought the British television production company Carnival Film and Television, the company behind Harley Street, Hotel Babylon and Poirot. Carnival will be merged into NBC Universal's London-based international TV production division.

Aon is to acquire the reinsurance broker Benfield in a deal that values the London-based firm at £935m. Aon intends to integrate the Benfield business with its existing reinsurance operation, Aon Re Global, and operate the division globally under the newly-created brand, Aon Benfield Re. 

Vitec Group is to acquire the Hollywood-based manufacturer of LED-based lights for the broadcast and film industries, Litepanels. The transaction is for an initial £7.8m which could rise to £26.7m, depending on future profits. Gareth Rhys Williams, chief executive of Vitec, says that Litepanels has developed products that are “much more comfortable for the newscasters and actors to work with, and which dramatically reduce the energy required, both to operate the lights and to subsequently air-condition the studios”.

Disney Interactive Media Group has acquired the parenting website raisingkids.co.uk.

Oddbins has been sold by its French owner Castel Freres to an investment consortium headed by Simon Baile, the son of Nick Baile, the wine merchant's former managing director.
 
AG Barr, the soft drinks group responsible for Irn-Bru and Tizer, is to purchase Groupe Rubicon for £59.8m. Rubicon produces a range of branded passionfruit, mango, guava, lychee, pomegranate and papaya juice drinks.

Northgate Information Solutions has agreed to acquire Anite Public Sector Holdings, Anite's local government and secure information systems businesses, for £54.3m.

QinetiQ has acquired Dominion Technology Resources Inc, a provider of products and services to the US intelligence community, for $104.5m.

Synova Capital has bought The Lunan Group, owner of the luxury handbag and accessories brands, Fiorelli and Modalu.

Phoenix Equity Partners and Sirius Equity have invested £80m in LK Bennett, the womenswear, shoes and accessories designer and retailer. The investment will allow LK Bennett to open new stores and concessions in the UK, establish a retail presence overseas, develop the product range and explore licensing opportunities.

SSP Holdings, the insurance software provider, has agreed to be taken over by the private equity firm, Hellman & Friedman, in a deal that values the company at £198m.

Baugur has sold Woodward Food Services to Brakes Group for around £20m.

Dunelm Group, the homewares retailer, is to acquire the Dorma bedlinen and soft furnishings brand for £5m. Dunelm has 89 stores, 76 of which are out-of-town superstores.

BT has acquired Ribbit Corporation, a Silicon Valley-based telephony and internet technology business, for £53m.

British Airways is to merge with its Spanish counterpart Iberia. British Airways' chief executive, Willie Walsh, said: "The aviation landscape is changing and airline consolidation is long overdue. The combined balance sheet, anticipated synergies and network fit between the airlines make a merger an attractive proposition, particularly in the current economic environment.” Following the merger, both brands will be retained.

Tesco is to buy Royal Bank of Scotland's 50% shareholding in Tesco Personal Finance for £950m. The acquisition is part Tesco's strategy to increase its share in fast growing services markets including financial services, telecoms and internet/home shopping. Britain's biggest retailer plans to expand Tesco Personal Finance's offering to that of a full service retail bank and anticipates profits of £1bn per annum – more than double current levels of just under £400m.

Communisis is to sell its subsidiaries Bath Business Forms and Economailer to the business' management team for £12.8m. Economailer manufactures and sells specialised payroll products while Bath Business Forms produces business stationery.
 
The US firm WiFiMed Holdings is to purchase iTelecare, the UK provider of telecare and telehealth monitoring devices.

Audio Visual Machines, an audio visual and video conferencing systems specialist that counts BP, BT, eBay, Sainsbury's and Virgin among its clients, is to acquire Matrix Display Systems, a provider of audio visual services to the UK education sector. The combined entity will have a turnover of £45m and 250 employees.

The magazine printer Pepper Communications is to acquire the Bristol-based commercial printer TL Visuals.

Pindar has acquired a 15% stake in Wren Press and is to merge it with Barnard & Westwood.  Wren Press supplies stationery to the royal family and other high profile celebrities and has showrooms in Chelsea, New York, Hong Kong and Dublin, while Barnard and Westwood is an 80-year-old fine art printer and bookbinder. The combined company will keep both brands and, with Pindar's contacts, hopes to grow its business in the Far East and the US.

LG Harris, the manufacturer of paint brushes and other decorating products, has acquired the Norfolk-based John Palmer Brush Company.

Advent International, the private equity firm, has acquired Craegmoor Healthcare Group, the UK's largest independent provider of specialist care for adults and younger people. Advent has allocated an immediate £13m to improve Craegmoor's existing care facilities and plans both organic and acquisitive growth.

Spice has acquired British Power International, the Colchester-based provider of specialist engineering and consultancy services to network operators, generators, regulators, governments and funding agencies.

The US firm Gardner Denver is to acquire the compressor manufacturer CompAir for £197.5m.

Fidelity Equity Partners has funded a £33m management buyout of Picsolve International, the outsourced photographic systems and services provider for leisure attraction operators. The investment will fund Picsolve's ambitious expansion plans in Europe, the US, Asia and the Middle East.

RM Group, the provider of educational products and services, has acquired the specialist education software provider, Orchard Partners for up to £2.8m. Orchard Partners trades as EasyTrace.

XSN has taken over the marine telematics company MarineTrack and changed its own name to MarineTrack Holdings plc.

Porvair is to acquire Seal Analytical, a manufacturer of wet chemistry analysers for use in environmental and industrial laboratories, in a deal that values Seal at £3.8m.

Gooch & Housego is to acquire the US-based optical equipment manufacturer General Optics from GSI Group for $21m. 

Cayman islands-based insurer Ironshore is to buy the Lloyds syndicate manager, Pembroke Managing Agency, for £17m.

Barclays Private Equity has taken a majority stake in the travel management company ATP International Group in a £73m deal.
Biocompatibles has acquired the Connecticut-based medical devices business BrachySciences.

BAE Systems is to acquire Detica Group, the national security intelligence specialist, in a transaction that values Detica at £538m. BAE Systems is the world's third-largest defence company and was formed in 1999 following the merger of British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems.

Clapham House has sold its chain of Bombay Bicycle Club restaurants and delivery kitchens to Gourmet Restaurants Group for £4.4m. Gourmet Restaurants owns the Tiffinbites brand and has recently purchased the Indian food and restaurant group Vama and claims to be the largest Indian restaurant firm in the UK.

Alterian, the marketing software firm, is to acquire the web content software company Mediasurface.

The London property developer Minerva is to be taken over by Limitless, part of the Dubai World group of companies, in a £260m deal.

Private equity firm Lion Capital is to acquire FoodVest Group, the owner of the food companies Young's Seafoods, Findus and The Seafood Company. 

Sanofi-Aventis is to buy Acambis in a deal that values the British vaccine firm at £276m.

Co-operative Group is to acquire Somerfield for £1.56bn. The combined business will be the fifth-largest food retailer in the UK with a market share of about 8% and will operate more than 3,000 grocery stores.

Britain's seventh-biggest bank, Alliance & Leicester, has agreed to be taken over by Santander, the Spanish owner of Abbey, in a £1.26bn deal. 

Anheuser-Busch and Inbev, two of the world's biggest brewers, are to merge. The combined company will be named Anheuser-Busch InBev and will own many of the leading global beer brands including Budweiser, Stella Artois, Beck's, Leffe and Hoegaarden.

Thales UK is to buy the data security specialist nCipher in a transaction that values the Cambridge-based company at £50.7m.

Search agency Neutralize and digital agency Guava are to merge to form Guava UK.

Financial Objects is to be bought by Temenos UK, a subsidiary of the Swiss banking software company, Temenos, in a deal that values Financial Objects at £27.2m. Financial Objects supplies software to banking, wealth management and energy companies.

Aldgate Capital is to acquire HJM Caterers and E&J Hall Investments for £25m. The acquisition gives the company 31 gaming centres in the UK and forms part of the firm's ambition to become a diversified gaming group that will include bingo, gaming machines and sports betting operations. Aldgate is to rename itself Praesepe plc.

Comtec, the travel technology supplier, has made two acquisitions: Atolis, a content management and CRM specialist, and a web design agency, Jamber.

BT Directories has acquired the online business directory Ufindus from Iomart for £20m. Ufindus employs 300 people in Lancaster, Chorley, Blackpool, Barrow and Huddersfield and turned over £14m in 2006/7. The acquisition is part of BT Directories' aim to become a leading provider of consumer enquiries to businesses, and David Benjamin, CEO of BT Directories said, “Through Ufindus' considerable expertise and experience in online classified advertising, we access further local classified product offerings, significant search traffic and new customers for this fast-growing part of our business”.

Rolls-Royce is to acquire Scandinavian Electric Holding, a Norwegian supplier of parts for diesel-electric marine propulsion systems, for £43m. The purchase will add new electrical, automation and control capabilities for Rolls-Royce and continue the British engine maker's growth strategy in the marine market.

Stobart Group has bought the chilled and ambient goods operations of Innovate Logistics out of administration. Around 1,300 Innovate employees will transfer to Stobart, bringing the number of people employed by the group to 5,300, while the enlarged company will now have more than 1,800 trucks and 3,200 trailers.  

LDG is to be bought by the investment firm Laxey Partners in a deal that values the logistics group at £203m. Employing 7,000 people, TDG counts Sainsbury's, Argos and French Connection among its clients.

Torex Retail Holdings, the provider of software and services to the retail sector, is to acquire the hospitality division of Alphameric. The division specialises in providing services to the hospitality market, such as front-of-house sales, back-office administration, supply-chain management and head-office control. Its clients include some of the UK's leading food and drink companies. Alphameric will now concentrate on its interests in the bookmaking industry.

British Airways is to buy French airline L'Avion for £54m. L'Avion will be integrated into OpenSkies, BA's new Paris to New York subsidiary airline.

The prepared and packaged salads firm Vitacress is to be bought by the Portuguese firm, RAR Group. Vitacress is best known for its watercress, baby leaf spinach and rocket salads. RAR employs around 3,700 people in Portugal, Germany, Spain, Poland and the UK and its activities include food, packaging, real estate, services and tourism.  

Reed Business Information has bought the online lead generation service Approved Index.

Oakley Capital Investments has acquired the international derivatives, equities and fixed income broker, Monument Securities.

SCS Upholstery, which sells sofas from almost 100 outlets across the UK, has been sold out of administration for an undisclosed sum to an affiliate of the private equity company, Sun European Partners. Prior to the sale, the company told its shareholders that its financial position was so dire that their investment in the company was worth nothing. The prospect of a dividend to SCS's unsecured creditors is uncertain, but the company now has sufficient funds to continue trading as normal.
Alentus Corporation, the US web hosting firm, has acquired London-based Areti Internet.

GlassHouse, the IT infrastructure consulting and services firm, has acquired the IT consulting business, TPP Group.  GlassHouse says the move is part of its continued drive to expand its storage management capabilities across the UK.

UTEK Corporation has agreed to acquire the London-based innovation consulting and insight firm, Innovaro, in a $3.6m transaction. UTEK is a business development company with operations in the US and the UK.

In a £95.6m deal, Phoenix Equity Partners is to acquire Ashtead Technology Rentals, a company that rents electronic equipment to the offshore oil and gas sector and the environmental monitoring and testing industry. 

Spotless Group has acquired the fabric dye company, Dylon International. Dylon's brands include the de-scaler and limescale remover Oust and Lord Sheraton wipes and sprays.

BT has agreed to acquire Stemmer and SND. The Munich-based companies provide a range of IT and network services to corporate customers in Germany.

Point-of-purchase packaging firm Pop Displays has acquired the printer Rapide.

The printers Alden Group and HenDi Systems have merged to form Alden HenDi.

Balfour Beatty has made two acquisitions: the San Diego building firm Douglas E Barnhart for $116m and the German rail engineering group Schreck-Mieves for €36 million.

The plastics engineering group, Thompson Plastics, has been acquired in a management buyout. The company is a supplier of exterior panels, washrooms and shower cubicles to the motor home and caravan industry.

In a £20m deal, the logistics firm Imperial Multipart has been bought by its management team.

ZigZag fitness solutions has acquired rival children's activity company ActivKids. ZigZag is part of PTE plc.

Irish packaging group, Zeus, has acquired All Purpose Packaging in a deal that brings Zeus' annual turnover to over €80m.

The magazine publisher IPC Media has acquired Mousebreaker.com, the UK-based free-to-play games site. IPC Ignite managing director, Eric Fuller, says that Mousebreaker's content is “complementary to our existing young men's brands, Nuts and Loaded.”

The Brazilian group, Marfrig, has bought the European and Brazilian chicken processing businesses of OSI Group, including Moy Park in the UK, France and Netherlands. The acquisition makes Marfrig the ninth-largest chicken supplier in the world, processing more than 8.5 million birds per week.

Goodform, the specialist sports sales and marketing company, has acquired sports market research company, SportsWise. SportsWise counts the Premier League, The Football League and the Rugby Football League among its clients.

ISIS Equity Partners has backed the management buyout of Traveljigsaw, the car hire firm.

NBGI Private Equity has backed the £16m management buyout of the specialist roofing and structural waterproofing firm, Rock Asphalte.

SCA is to sell its UK and Ireland conventional corrugated packaging business to the Spanish paper and packaging firm SAICA for £100m. However, SCA will retain ownership of its specialised value-added packaging operations in the two countries.

The engineering and manufacturing group, Tomkins, has acquired Trion Inc, a manufacturer of air quality products. The North Carolina-headquartered $25m acquisition will become part of Tomkins' Air Systems Components division.

Henley Management College is merging with the University of Reading with effect from 1 August 2008.

De La Rue is to sell its De La Rue Cash Systems business, which authenticates, counts and sorts banknotes, to the US private equity firm The Carlyle Group for £360m. Following the disposal, De La Rue will focus on its banknote printing and banknote paper manufacturing business and return £460m to its shareholders.

Ultra Electronics has acquired ProLogic for $50m. ProLogic provides specialised IT and communications products and consulting services to US government departments.

Capita, is to buy IBS, a provider of software systems and related services for the management of social housing to local government and housing associations, for £77.7m. Capita says that its strength in the UK outsourcing market will “add further credibility and scale to IBS, allowing it to service a wider range of potential customers and projects.”

Renold is to acquire a 75% interest in the industrial chain business of LG Balakrishnan & Bros, the leading producer and distributor of industrial chains in India. Renold says that the deal will enable it to promote its product range in India's rapidly growing market as well as exploit new product, market and export opportunities.

Private equity firm, Cinven, is to acquire Partnership Assurance, one of the UK's leading specialist providers of annuities, long-term care plans and life cover, for around £100m. Cinven says that it “expects to make significant investment in the staff, brand, infrastructure and distribution channels in order to drive long term value from this high growth segment of the financial services market.”

An investment consortium led by Babcock & Brown, AMP Capital Investors and Deutsche Bank is to purchase Angel Trains for £3.6bn. Angel Trains is one of three rolling stock companies in the UK and provides around 4,100 passenger trains and 280 freight locomotives to train operating companies including South West Trains and Virgin West Coast.

The US supplier of equipment for the corrugated and folded carton industries, MarquipWardUnited, is to acquire Bedford-based Apollo Sheeters.

Staples, the US office supplies firm, is to buy its Dutch counterpart, Corporate Express, for €3.1bn.

Ark-H Handling has acquired the St Albans-based response and fulfilment firm, Handling Matters.

The marketing services and advertising agency, Adventis Group, has acquired Second2, a seven-year-old technology marketing agency, for up to £10.5m. 

Wal-Mart is to sell Gazeley, the property development subsidiary of ASDA, to Economic Zones World, a subsidiary of Dubai World. Gazeley specialises in the development of distribution warehousing in the UK, mainland Europe and China, with its customers including retailers, logistics firms and manufacturers.

The accountancy firms Hillier Hopkins and Badger Hakim are to merge.

Global property consultancy Knight Frank has acquired Markham Vaughan Gillingham, a leading retail and leisure leasing practice with offices in London, Bristol, and Manchester.

In the largest deal of its kind in the last decade, Willis, the insurance broker, is to buy its smaller US rival, Hilb Rogal & Hobbs, for $2.1bn. The purchase significantly increases the scale of Willis' operations in North America and the company expects to make annual savings through synergies of $140 million by 2012. Hilb Rogal & Hobbs is the eighth-largest insurance and risk management intermediary in the US.

Chelsea Building Society, the country's fifth-largest building society, is to merge with the Catholic Building Society.

MobiVentures, the provider of mobile applications, content and services, is to acquire the email marketing company Purepromoter for around £3.8m.

The Jordans breakfast cereal and cereal bar business is to merge with Associated British Foods' Ryvita crispbread and healthy snacks business. ABF says that the combination of Jordans and Ryvita will give it a leading position in the growing natural ingredients and healthy eating market and will generate cost savings and provide new product opportunities. Jordans was started by Bill and David Jordan in 1972 and now exports its products to 17 countries around the world. Formed in 1925, The Ryvita Company leads the UK crispbread market and has extended its brand into crackers, savoury bagged snacks and cereal bars.

In a £53.2m deal, SMG has sold Virgin Radio to TIML Golden Square, part of the Times of India Group, one of India's largest media companies. However, the Virgin brand name is not part of the deal and TIML will invest more than £15m developing and rolling out a new brand. Following the sale, SMG is now fully-focused on its Scottish-based broadcasting businesses. Richard Branson says that the Virgin Group is considering options to re-launch a Virgin Radio station on FM in the UK, as well as globally on the internet.

Deloitte, the administrator of the failed fashion retailer MK One, has sold approximately 100 of the 172 stores to Jet Star Retail, a company connected to Mark Brafman, the original founder of MK One. The administrator is continuing to trade the remaining stores under the MK One banner “whilst exploring the available options”.

Logistics specialist, Wincanton, has acquired Product Support, a provider of supply chain logistics and support services primarily to the aerospace and energy industries.

Irish bookmaking firm Paddy Power has entered the Northern Ireland market with the £19m purchase of Belfast chain of bookmakers, McGranaghan Racing.

In a £20.2m deal, the British defence firm Chemring has agreed to acquire Scot, a US firm that manufactures devices used in aircraft emergency systems.

Stiller Group has acquired the Barnsley-based James Durrans Transport, the bulk powder transport division of James Durrans & Sons.

Communications specialist Vanco has been bought out of administration by Reliance Globalcom, a subsidiary of the Indian telecommunications service provider, Reliance Communications.

Berkmann Wine Cellars has bought Vinoceros Wines.

Chicago-based InnerWorkings has acquired UK print management and marketing services company etrinsic for an undisclosed sum.

JJB Sports has acquired the fashion footwear firm, Qube Footwear. The purchase of the 22 store business complements the company's recent acquisition of the Original Shoe Company.

Heidelberg is to acquire the 25-year-old UK- and Netherlands-based high-performance coating manufacturer, Hi-Tech Coatings.

Cityspace has acquired Kizoom, a provider of real-time transport information to the internet and mobile devices that counts Transport for London and National Rail Enquiries among its clients. Since 1996 Cityspace has been delivering information to the public through screens and touch screen terminals.

Robert Horne Group has acquired Vink Plastics UK, a national distributor that focuses on the sign, graphics and construction sector.

Birmingham-based RSM Bentley Jennison has acquired the audit, accounting and tax compliance arm of the accountancy firm Wenham Major out of administration. 

The high street optician chain, Vision Express, has acquired the
G C Bateman Group for an undisclosed sum. Batemans Opticians is a 100-year-old family-owned business with over 70 stores in the South of England and the purchase takes the number of Vision Express outlets to over 300 across the UK.

Cheshire-based Promotion Space Group has bought rival shopping centre commercialisation specialist Brandspace. Both companies organise promotions and marketing campaigns in shopping centres.

Zenith Vehicle Contracts has acquired Provecta, the Reading-based employee car ownership specialist, for an undisclosed sum.

The bidding war for British catering equipment manufacturer Enodis continues with the latest £1.08bn approach from the US engineering group Manitowoc trumping a previously agreed offer from Illinois Tool Works.

Elaine McPherson, the former chief executive of MK One, has bought the clothing retailer Ethel Austin out of administration. McPherson says, “I shall be undertaking a thorough review of the business to produce a strategy to transform the business's trading performance and safeguard jobs. I want to return it to its former glory and that may well involve a revamp of the stores and the product range.”

Alterian, the provider of enterprise management software is to buy web content management software provider, Mediasurface. The transaction values Mediasurface at approximately £18.1m.

Hewlett-Packard is to purchase the IT services firm EDS for $13.9bn. Following the acquisition, HP intends to establish a new business group, to be branded EDS - an HP company. The combined entity will have an annual turnover of more than $38bn, 210,000 employees and provide IT outsourcing, business process outsourcing, applications, consulting and technology services in over 80 countries.

Cobham has agreed to purchase the radio frequency components and subsystems business of M/A-COM from Tyco Electronics for $380m.

British catering equipment manufacturer, Enodis, has agreed to be bought by the US industrial and engineering firm, Illinois Tool Works, for £1.03bn. The agreement trumps an earlier £948m offer for Enodis from another US engineering group, Manitowoc. The deal will create a global industry leader in the manufacture and marketing of food service equipment.

Saint-Gobain Building Distribution is to acquire the builders' merchant, Gibbs and Dandy, for £43m. Gibbs & Dandy can trace its roots back to the nineteenth century and now has 11 branches across Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.

In a deal worth £1.1bn, Best Buy, the leading US consumer electronics retailer, is to acquire 50% of Carphone Warehouse's retail business. The deal includes 2,400 stores operating in nine European countries under the Carphone Warehouse and Phone House brands, as well as Carphone Warehouse's share of its existing relationships with Best Buy, the firm's web and direct businesses, insurance operations, and airtime reselling business. Carphone Warehouse will retain 100% of its TalkTalk, AOL Broadband and Opal fixed-line telecoms businesses in the UK and will use the proceeds of the transaction to repay debt and invest in broadband customer growth and infrastructure.

Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company is to buy London International Exhibition Centre Holdings, the owner of ExCel London, for £178m. Situated alongside Canary Wharf and London City Airport, ExCel London is the host of the London Boat Show, the British International Motor Show, London Book Fair and the London International Wine & Spirits Fair.

Directorbank, the headhunting company that focuses on private equity firms, has acquired Hanson Green, the non-executive search & selection firm, for an undisclosed sum.

Hornby, the maker of model railways, is to buy Corgi International, best known for its model cars, for £8.3m. The purchase complements Hornby's existing product range, which includes Scalextric racing cars, Airfix models and Humbrol paints.

PepsiCo has acquired the British vitamin water brand, V Water, for around £10m and has put in place an exclusive bottling agreement with Britvic who will manufacture, sell and distribute V Water products across the country.

Taylor Nelson Sofres plans to merge with its German counterpart GfK to form what would be the world's second-largest market research group by revenue. The merged group would be renamed GfK-TNS with its global head office based in London and a German one in Nürnberg.

United Drug has acquired Universal Conference and Incentive Travel and Business Edge Solutions & Training for up to £14.15m.

Barclays Private Equity has funded a management buyout of A-Plan Insurance, the broker that operates from a network of high street branches.

Balfour Beatty's specialist airport investment and development arm, Regional and City Airports, is to acquire 95% of Blackpool International Airport for £14m. Blackpool Council owns the remaining 5% of the airport, which is forecast to handle about half a million passengers in 2008. 

Private equity firm RJD Partners has led a management buyout of Comtec, the supplier of software to the travel industry. 

The television production company Tinopolis is to be taken private by the private equity consortium Vitruvian in a deal that values the company at approximately £44.7m. Tinopolis' brands include Mentorn, Sunset + Vine and Video Arts and its productions include BBC TV's Question Time and coverage of the Grand National meeting from Aintree.

Biotechnology firm Antisoma is to acquire Boston-based Xanthus Pharmaceuticals for £26.8m.

Private equity firm, Gresham, has backed the £82.5m management buy-out of the East Midlands-based corporatewear provider, Johnson Clothing. The company is to be renamed Dimensions Clothing.

The private equity group, ECI, has acquired a £45m 60% stake in iLG Digital, the holding company for i-level, Generator Consulting and Premier Affiliate Network.

Healthspan has acquired rival vitamin supplements supplier, Healthy Direct, for an undisclosed “eight figure” sum.

Hillfoot Steel has been acquired by Edinburgh-based Murray Steels.

Travis Perkins, the builders' merchant, has acquired 30% of Toolstation, a direct retailer of tools and building materials. The £5m deal includes an option for Travis Perkins to buy the remainder of the company's shares in due course. Toolstation was set up by Mark Goddard-Watts, a founder of Screwfix, and had a £21.4m turnover last year.

In a £362m deal, GlaxoSmithKline is to acquire Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, the US-based biopharmaceutical company which focuses on discovering and developing drugs with the potential to treat diseases associated with ageing.

Elementis has agreed to purchase Deuchem Co, a 30-year-old Taiwan-based supplier of additives and resins, for £40.4m.

ITE Group, the exhibitions specialist, has acquired Siberian Fair, an exhibitions business based in Siberia, for around £6m.

Henry Schein, an American provider of healthcare products, has acquired Minerva Dental, the Cardiff-based supplier of dental consumables and equipment.

Sarian Systems has been acquired by the US company, Digi International.

Dutch baking products giant, CSM, has acquired Harden Fine Foods, a supplier of mini-bite flapjacks, brownies, and cakes to in-store bakeries in supermarkets, for £6.4m.

Avesco, the media services group, has acquired Telecast Communications, including its Charter Broadcast Group subsidiaries, for an initial £2.1m. Charter Broadcast provides television broadcast equipment systems and digital radio camera systems to production companies and broadcasters and will be combined with Avesco's existing Presteigne business. The enlarged division will be renamed Presteigne Charter.

Beswick Paper has acquired Premier Paper for £19.1m.

Fenwick has bought the Colchester department store, Williams & Griffin.

Munro Group has sold its retail pharmacy division to Admenta Holdings, the owner of Lloyds Pharmacy.

Phoenix Healthcare Distribution has bought Munro Wholesale Medical Supplies.

CareTech, the provider of learning disability care services, is to acquire Beacon Care for up to £22.5m. Beacon Care provides specialist services for adults with learning difficulties at 16 homes in South East England.

The privately-owned confectionery and pet food manufacturer, Mars, is to buy the Wrigley chewing gum company in a $23bn deal.  Under the terms of the agreement, Wrigley will become a separate, stand-alone subsidiary of Mars and will take over the production of Mars' global non-chocolate confectionery sugar brands, including Starburst and Skittles. Founded in 1911 and still owned by the Mars family, Mars manufactures and markets some of the world's most famous brands, including Milky Way, Snickers, Uncle Ben's, Pedigree, Seeds of Change and Whiskas.

Essentially Group, the sports marketing agency, has acquired the stadium perimeter advertising company, Sportseen, for £9m. Sportseen sells advertising space on fixed, scrolling and LED perimeter boards for Rugby matches at Twickenham, Murrayfield and the Millennium Stadium, as well as at seven Premier League football grounds. Essentially already owns Frontiers, the leading perimeter advertising company in cricket.

Melrose, the specialist manufacturing investor, is to acquire FKI in a deal that values the engineering group at approximately £478m.

The brewer Marston's has acquired Ryland Thompson and its subsidiaries, including Refresh UK. Refresh brews 50,000 barrels of beer a year, among them the brands Hobgoblin, Brakspear and Duchy Originals Organic Ale.

WNS Assistance has acquired Call 24/7, the Stockport-based vehicle insurance claims processing services provider, for £8m.

Cardif Pinnacle has acquired a majority shareholding in Warranty Direct, a provider of extended warranties for vehicles and electrical appliances.

The oil exploration company, Expro, has agreed to be bought for around £1.6bn by a private equity consortium led by Candover. Expro provides products to measure, improve, control and process flow from oil and gas wells and operates in over 50 countries.