The information on this page comes from the UK Activity Report.
Click here for further details

Incepta has acquired Global Intelligence & Security, the US business intelligence company, for £2.4m. 31-Dec-2001 Avecia is planning to sell Stahl, the Dutch supplier of leather finishing chemicals with 1,500 staff in 28 countries, to a management buy-out for £232m. 28-Dec-2001 Aga Foodservice has acquired Adamatic, the US manufacturer of food manufacturing equipment, for £3.6m. 28-Dec-2001 Chloride has acquired Masterfix Comercio e Servicos, the Brazilian distributor of power protection products, for undisclosed terms. 24-Dec-2001 Skipton Building Society has acquired Industrial Equipment Finance of Redhill, Surrey, for £4.5m. 24-Dec-2001 Aga Foodservice has acquired Millers Bakery Machinery, the Bury-based facilities management and manufacturing company, for £12.8m. 24-Dec-2001 Diploma has acquired Clarendon Engineering Supplies, the distributor of high performance fasteners, for £3m. 24-Dec-2001 Intercare has acquired Federa France, the French contract manufacturer of injectable pharmaceuticals with 137 staff, from Fresenius Kabi for £0.6m. 24-Dec-2001 Headlam has sold Gradus, the Macclesfield-based floorcoverings manufacturer, to a management buy-out for £32m, as part of a strategy to focus on distribution. 24-Dec-2001 Leeds Group is to sell Langholm Dyeing and Schofield Cloth Finishers to the UK Dyeing Division management team for £6m, as part of a strategy to transform itself from a textile company to a financial services company. 24-Dec-2001 Wood Mackenzie, the Edinburgh-based energy and life sciences research consultancy, has undergone a £26m management buy-out from Deutsche Bank. 24-Dec-2001 Clan Douglas, the Hawick-based cashmere manufacturer, and sister company Murray Allan of Innerleithen have been sold by Toyoboshi Kogyo of Japan to Birmingham-based investment group Harris Watson for an estimated £5m. 24-Dec-2001 William Baird is to sell its Dannimac raincoats business to Signature Brands of London for £3.1m. 24-Dec-2001 Antfactory, the technology investment group, is to be acquired by investment bank Seymour Pierce, in a £100m deal that will enable Seymour Pierce to make further acquisitions in the fund management industry. 24-Dec-2001 Eagle Rock Entertainment, the music and media company, has undergone a £34m management buy-out from Edel Music of Germany. 24-Dec-2001 Compass has completed the £41m acquisition of three catering companies from the parent of Swissair - Restorama, Rail Gourmet and parts of Gourmet Nova. 24-Dec-2001 Balfour Beatty has acquired the rail electrification business of ABB for £25m, which includes 350 staff and operations in Italy, Greece, the Netherlands and the UK. 24-Dec-2001 Pneumatic Conveying Systems, the Stockport-based manufacturer of vacuum conveying equipment, has been acquired by K-Tron of the US. 21-Dec-2001 SATRA Technology Centre has acquired Hampden Test Equipment, the manufacturer of abrasion test machines and ozone cabinets with annual turnover of £2m. 21-Dec-2001 WSP Group has acquired LT Consultants, the Finnish infrastructure and transport consultancy with 100 staff. 21-Dec-2001 Unilever has sold Unipath, the Bedford-based women's health diagnostics business with 500 staff, to Inverness Medical Innovations of the US for £103m. 21-Dec-2001 Barlo Group has sold its Irish polypropylene strapping business to ITW Ireland for about £3m, in order to focus on the development of its Sealcon dairy container business. 21-Dec-2001 Grampian Country Foods has acquired Golden Foods International, the Thailand-based chicken products manufacturer, from Wessanen for undisclosed terms, in order to gain a foothold in Asia. 21-Dec-2001 TNT Retail Express has acquired Bleckmann Group, the Dutch supplier of transport and warehousing for the fashion industry with 815 staff, as part of a strategy to expand into continental Europe. 21-Dec-2001 Marconi has sold its Gilbarco petrol pump business to Danaher of the US for £225m, and is now planning to sell its 50% stake in the Hotpoint domestic appliances business to Merloni of Italy for £130m. 21-Dec-2001 Morgan Sindall has acquired Pipeline Constructors of Corby for £16m, in order to expand its utility services business. 21-Dec-2001 Lambert Howarth has acquired Natural Selection International, the Spanish supplier of homeware products to the retail market, for £1m. 20-Dec-2001 Alphyra is to sell the Disposal Group to Calyx for about £7m, and the proceeds will be used to extend its terminal network across a number of European markets. 20-Dec-2001 Skandia of Sweden has agreed to acquire Lynx Group for £210m, in order to gain access to the Bankhall investment management operation, while the Lynx IT business will be sold to management for £60m. 20-Dec-2001 Altium Capital, the London-based investment bank, has undergone a management buy-out from Gold-Zack Group, in a deal that values the business at £65m. 20-Dec-2001 Kalamazoo is to sell its software business to UCS of the US for £14m in order to make up a shortfall in its pension scheme, and the remaining operations are being placed into liquidation. 20-Dec-2001 Liverpool Victoria is to acquire the administration and investment operations of Hearts of Oak Insurance Group, which has funds under management of £350m. 20-Dec-2001 Maiden Group is to acquire Checkmain, the London-based outdoor advertising company that trades as Felgate Billposting and has about 100 staff. 19-Dec-2001 Fillmore Packaging has acquired PP&P of Corby in order to expand its presence in the corrosion inhibitor packaging market, and the PP&P staff and stock have already relocated to Wellingborough. 19-Dec-2001 Close Brothers Private Equity and International Flavours & Fragrances have acquired the Bush Boake Allen site in Widnes, which produces fragrances and agricultural chemicals, securing the future of 80 jobs. 19-Dec-2001 Isotron, the provider of sterilisation services to the medical and food industries, has acquired Gammaster from OPG of the Netherlands for £34m, partly funded by a £18m share placing. 19-Dec-2001 Katsouris Fresh Foods, the Wembley-based manufacturer of dips and samosas, has been acquired by Bakkavor of Iceland for £102m. 19-Dec-2001 Carlton Barclay has acquired Litho-Tech, the London-based corporate sheet fed printer, for undisclosed terms, and will shed about 30 of the 260-strong workforce. 18-Dec-2001 Capita Group has acquired the Industrial Society's workforce training and development business, which runs about 150 courses and trains 50,000 people a year, for up to £24m. 18-Dec-2001 Vosper Thornycroft has acquired TUV FM, the Fareham-based supplier of support services to the Ministry of Defence, for £3.5m. 18-Dec-2001 CGNU has agreed to sell Plant Safety, its UK in-service inspection business with net assets of £3m, to Bureau Veritas. 18-Dec-2001 Mayfayre Window Systems, the Barnsley-based architectural products company with annual turnover of £2.3m, has undergone a management buy-out. 18-Dec-2001 Marconi has sold its optical components business to Bookham Technology in a £20m deal that will give Marconi a 9% stake in Bookham. 18-Dec-2001 TGI, the hi-fi manufacturer, has accepted a £15m takeover bid from TC Group of Denmark. 17-Dec-2001 Fayrewood is to acquire UMD, the Spanish computer hardware distributor, for £17m. 14-Dec-2001 Rexam is to acquire Crown Cork & Seal's beauty pumps business for £75m, funded by a £108m share placing, in order to enhance its US manufacturing capability. 14-Dec-2001 Enodis is to sell Sammic, its Spanish food equipment manufacturing business, to a management buy-out for £22m. 14-Dec-2001 Cube8 is to acquire Room Service, the supplier of food and drink delivery services to homes and offices in the London area, for £1.5m. 13-Dec-2001 Aga Foodservice has acquired Elgin & Hall, the Ripon-based fireplace manufacturer, for £4m. 13-Dec-2001 Aberdeen Asset Management is to acquire Old Mutual's fund management business on the Isle of Man for £36m, in order to gain a foothold in the offshore bond market. 13-Dec-2001 WPP has acquired Berlin Cameron & Partners, the US advertising agency with 40 staff, in order to expand its Red Cell global network. 12-Dec-2001 TelMe is to sell its travel interests, which include the Seaforths business travel agent and the Global Traveller online operation, to Friezenberg Beheer for £4m. 12-Dec-2001 Silentnight is planning to sell K Raymakers & Sons, the former Cornwell Parker fabric business, for £2.5m. 12-Dec-2001 Frazier International, the Dumfries-based office equipment refurbishing company with 140 staff, has been acquired by MIREC of the Netherlands for £10m. 12-Dec-2001 Compass has acquired Seiyo Food Systems, the Japanese contract catering company, for £193m. 12-Dec-2001 Alliance UniChem is to acquire the Taylor chain of 59 pharmacies in the Midlands and South West for up to £68m, taking its Moss Pharmacy division to 776 outlets. 12-Dec-2001 Capita Group has acquired Moorgate Registrars, the Chelmsford-based registrar, for £2m, in order to expand its shareholder services business. 11-Dec-2001 Cable & Wireless is to acquire PSINet Japan, the supplier of internet services, for £7.2m. 11-Dec-2001 Delta is to sell Delta Fluid Products of St Helens and Donald Brown of Stretford to management for £5.5m, as part of a strategy to dispose of its plumbing operations. 11-Dec-2001 Parkman has acquired Newbury King, the management and business consultancy, for £0.2m. 10-Dec-2001 RPS has acquired ELS, the Dutch asbestos surveying company with 80 staff, for £3.6m. 10-Dec-2001 Pennon Group is to sell its Viridor instrumentation business to Danaher of the US for £103m. 10-Dec-2001 Torex has acquired Figure Retail Systems, the supplier of point of sale systems, for £3m and Oxhealth.com for £0.4m. 07-Dec-2001 Zetters is to acquire Galliano Investments, the foreign exchange dealer, for up to £3m. 07-Dec-2001 BMW has sold British Motor Heritage, the Witney-based supplier of bodies for classic British sports cars, to a management team for undisclosed terms. 07-Dec-2001 Royal Liver, the mutual insurance firm, has bought the industrial branch business of Irish Life & Permanent for £107m. 07-Dec-2001 Taylor & Francis has acquired Curzon Press of London for £1.4m, in order to expand its academic book publishing business. 06-Dec-2001 Johnston Press has acquired Days Out UK, the travel database and guidebook publishing company. 06-Dec-2001 Centrica has announced that its British Gas Trading subsidiary has agreed to acquire the energy customer business of Enron Direct out of administration for £96m. 06-Dec-2001 Halo Foods is to acquire the plant, machinery and other assets of Newport-based GF Lovell for £3.4m, in order to become one of the country's leading manufacturers of own-brand snack bars. 06-Dec-2001 RPS is to acquire McHugh, the Irish development planning consultancy, for £2.6m, and has also announced the disposal of a 78% stake in its LabDIRECT e-commerce business to Emulous and the purchase of a 36% stake in Emulous. 05-Dec-2001 Anite is to acquire FSS Group, the supplier of travel reservation software, for up to £10m, and is considering plans to transfer some of its research activities to Latvia. 05-Dec-2001 British Polythene Industries has sold its Nelson Packaging business to a management buy-out for £2m. 05-Dec-2001 Matthew Charlton & Sons, the Hexham-based chain of builders' merchants with 210 staff, has been acquired by Jewson for undisclosed terms. 05-Dec-2001 Travis Perkins has acquired the Brikenden builders' merchant in North Lincolnshire for undisclosed terms, and will invest £0.3m in the expansion of the site. 05-Dec-2001 Conoco is to sell its chain of 175 directly-owned Jet petrol stations to Fuelforce of Swindon for undisclosed terms, but will continue to supply the sites from its Humber Refinery at Killingholme. 05-Dec-2001 Withers has announced plans to merge with New York-based Bergman Horowitz & Reynolds to create a leading international law firm focused on the private client market. 05-Dec-2001 Headlam has acquired Floorsales, the Northern Ireland-based distributor of commercial floorcoverings, for £0.4m, and the business will be relocated to a new warehouse and distribution facility. 04-Dec-2001 Metalrax has acquired Buncher & Haseler, the Birmingham-based manufacturer of commercial catering products, for £0.6m. 04-Dec-2001 Coffee Republic is to acquire GoodBean, the chain of 12 espresso bars in the South East of England, for £0.8m. 04-Dec-2001 Sports Resource Group is to acquire Sports Media Consultancy, the provider of sports branding and event marketing services, for £0.1m. 04-Dec-2001 Fountains has acquired Beaver Utility Services, the grounds maintenance company, for £0.1m. 04-Dec-2001 Stadium Group has sold Peachman Refrigeration to Longstore for £0.8m, in order to focus on electronic manufacturing services. 04-Dec-2001 Meggitt has completed the sale of Swindon-based Meggitt Electronic Components to Tyco Electronics UK for £16m. 04-Dec-2001 Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries has sold 44 tenanted pubs to the KUC subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland for £5.8m, in order to focus on its core community estate and leading beer brands. 04-Dec-2001 Intelliplus is to acquire Medius Networks, the small Reading-based telecoms company that operates a voice and data network at the IX Europe site near Heathrow. 03-Dec-2001 Centrica is to acquire Trolhurst, the provider of gas appliance servicing and central heating installation services, for £8.5m, gaining 450 additional staff in London, Glasgow, Newcastle and Shrewsbury. 03-Dec-2001 Severfield-Rowen has acquired Watson Steel, the Bolton-based supplier of structural steelwork with 300 staff, from Amec Capital Projects for £2.5m. 03-Dec-2001 Interior Services Group is to acquire Square Mile Real Estate Services, the London-based property management company, from Pillar Property for £0.8m. 03-Dec-2001 ISS is to acquire two damage recovery companies - Ark & General of Staffordshire and Electromec of Skipton - for undisclosed terms. 03-Dec-2001 Cable & Wireless is planning to buy Exodus Communications, the US web-hosting company currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, in a £700m investment. 03-Dec-2001 FKI has acquired Cleco Group, the supplier of automated warehouse systems, for £22m, in order to expand its FKI Logistex division. 30-Nov-2001 TD Waterhouse is to acquire DLJdirect from Credit Suisse First Boston, in order to expand its stockbroking business in the UK. 30-Nov-2001 Redrow is to acquire Tay Homes for £30m, in order to expand its housebuilding business in Yorkshire and Scotland. 30-Nov-2001 Punch Pub Company has bought Commer Group's 75 pubs for £19m, taking its total estate to almost 4,300. 30-Nov-2001 Chubb has won US approval to sell its Tesa Hardware operation to Assa Abloy for £85m, which completes the disposal of its mechanical locks and door hardware businesses. 29-Nov-2001 Gibbons Refractories, the brick manufacturer, is being bought out of administration by Seagoe Technologies, saving up to 60 of the 120 jobs. 29-Nov-2001 May Gurney, the Norwich-based construction group with 1,400 employees, is to undergo a management buy-out for undisclosed terms. 29-Nov-2001 Ravenstock Tam, the provider of site accommodation, has been acquired by Mobile Storage Group of the US for undisclosed terms, and the new owner is setting up a European headquarters in Middlesbrough. 29-Nov-2001 Alfred McAlpine has acquired Ryan Utility Services of Preston from Speedy Hire for £5.6m. 28-Nov-2001 Tikit Group has acquired Aurra Consulting, the supplier of consultancy services to law firms, for an initial £0.6m. 28-Nov-2001 Eurotel Systems has acquired the telephone system installation and maintenance business of Future Integrated Telephony for £1.2m, and will relocate the 40 Coventry-based staff to new premises at Brandon Court. 28-Nov-2001 Hercules Property Services has acquired Wood Management, the London-based property management company, for £1.7m and Michael Courcier & Partners, the Bolton-based town planning partnership, for £1.3m. 27-Nov-2001 Think Natural and Greenfingers are to merge their online retailing businesses into a new group called TNGf, enabling them to share warehouse and back-office functions and to shed 20 jobs. 27-Nov-2001 PrimeEnt has sold its Portman Entertainment film and TV production business to a management buy-out for £1.2m. 27-Nov-2001 Yorkshire Building Society is planning to merge with the Gainsborough Building Society, which has one branch and more than a dozen agency offices in Lincolnshire. 26-Nov-2001 Ian Anthony Group, the car dealership with BMW and Mini showrooms in Bolton, has been acquired by Williams Motor Company of Manchester for £5.4m. 26-Nov-2001 Save Group, the independent petrol retailer with 400 sites, has been bought out of administration by Bayfords of Yorkshire for £47m, securing the future of 4,000 jobs. 26-Nov-2001 Chivers Hartley has bought the Liverpool-based Nelson's preserve business from AB Foods for undisclosed terms. 26-Nov-2001 Marks & Spencer has agreed to sell Brooks Brothers, the US clothing retailer, to Retail Brand Alliance for £156m. 26-Nov-2001 WPP is to acquire Global Sportnet Beteiligungs, the German sports marketing agency with 16 staff. 23-Nov-2001 CSS Stellar has acquired The Peters Fraser & Dunlop Group, the London-based talent agency, for up to £22m. 23-Nov-2001 Torex has acquired McKeown Software, the Letchworth-based supplier of financial and procurement systems to the NHS, for £12m. 23-Nov-2001 Blue Band Express has undergone a management buy-in for undisclosed terms, and plans to provide a nationwide delivery service from its 13 depots. 23-Nov-2001 Lloyds TSB has acquired CashFriday, the Gloucester-based provider of funding and payroll services to the temporary recruitment sector, for £10m, in order to expand its Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance operation. 22-Nov-2001 Whitehead Mann is to acquire Baines Gwinner, the financial and professional services executive search firm with offices in London and New York, for £10m. 22-Nov-2001 Biddle, the Nuneaton-based heating manufacturer, has been acquired by Carver of Walsall for £13m. 22-Nov-2001 Ferschl has acquired Cleveland Flexible Engineering, the Teesside-based manufacturer of stainless steel flexible hoses, and is now looking to increase capacity at its tubeform division and invest in new machinery and personnel. 22-Nov-2001 Firth Rixson is selling its Enpar alloy and stainless steel distribution business in Germany to Bohler-Uddeholm of Austria for £4.7m. 22-Nov-2001 Thomsons, the Manchester-based independent financial adviser, has been acquired by AWD of Germany for £31m. 22-Nov-2001 Highbury House Communications has acquired Millennium Magazines, the publisher of the Satellite TV Europe programme guide, for up to £1.5m. 21-Nov-2001 Maclay Murray & Spens is to acquire the private client arm of legal firm McGrigor Donald, which will involve the transfer of two partners and 15 staff. 21-Nov-2001 Express Dairies has sold its central Scotland dairy business to Graham's Dairies of Bridge of Alan for £0.5m. 21-Nov-2001 Unilever is to sell its DiverseyLever commercial cleaning business to Johnson Wax Professional of the US for £1.1bn, in order to reduce debt following the acquisition of Bestfoods. 21-Nov-2001 P&O Princess Cruises has announced a £4.2bn merger with Royal Caribbean Cruises, which will create a combined group with 41 ships and 40,000 staff. 21-Nov-2001 Time2Learn is to acquire Intellexis International for £2.2m, in order to expand its financial and personal development e-learning business. 20-Nov-2001 Ebenezer Baylis, the Worcester-based catalogue and book printer, has been acquired by John Goodman & Sons of Birmingham, creating a combined group with 150 staff and turnover of £12m. 20-Nov-2001 WPP has acquired Penn Schoen & Berland, the US strategic research and polling consultancy with 81 staff. 19-Nov-2001 Podia is to acquire Event Vision Companies, the London-based organiser of corporate entertainment, for an initial £2m. 19-Nov-2001 Beldray, the Bilston-based manufacturer of ironing boards and ironmongery, has undergone a management buy-out for a nominal sum, securing the future of 300 jobs. 16-Nov-2001 Brambles Industries has sold its European rail wagon rental business to Hapag-Lloyd for £222m, and the proceeds will be used to fund bolt-on acquisitions for its information management and waste management operations. 16-Nov-2001 Charles Stanley has acquired Torrie & Co, the Edinburgh-based stockbroker, for up to £7.8m. 16-Nov-2001 Scottish Radio Holdings has agreed to acquire the remaining 76% of Radio Ireland, the owner of the Today FM radio station, for £36m. 15-Nov-2001 Incepta has acquired Hauck Research Services, the marketing consultancy with 90 staff, for an initial £4m. 15-Nov-2001 Investec has acquired European Capital, the London-based project finance company, in order to expand its infrastructure financing capabilities beyond its South African base. 15-Nov-2001 Cuttle McLeod Construction has been acquired by Broadwell Holdings of the West Midlands for £5.5m. 15-Nov-2001 Tomkins has acquired American Metal Products, the US supplier of residential air systems with almost 1,000 employees, from Masco Corporation for undisclosed terms. 14-Nov-2001 STP Group, the door manufacturer with 300 staff and manufacturing sites in Yorkshire and Coventry, has undergone a £15m management buy-out. 14-Nov-2001 Lotus has sold its Coventry-based automotive engineering consultancy to HPL Prototypes of Nuneaton, and HPL will gain 35 new staff and relocate its existing workforce to the Lotus site on the Coventry Windmill Industrial Estate. 14-Nov-2001 Vosper Thornycroft is to acquire Merlin Communications, the communications facilities management company, for £95m. 14-Nov-2001 Alito Colour Group has bought Keldia, the Walthamstow-based printing company, out of administration and is planning to move to larger London premises early next year. 13-Nov-2001 United Packaging, the Cleckheaton-based manufacturer of stretch wrapping machines, has been acquired by MJ Maillis of Greece. 13-Nov-2001 Obvious Solutions has acquired Icarus, the Manchester-based recruitment consultancy, for £0.5m, and is now looking to expand into London and the US. 13-Nov-2001 MG Rover and HBOS are forming a joint venture to acquire the car company's former financial services division from BMW for £340m. 13-Nov-2001 Latchways is to acquire HCL Group for £2.4m, in order to expand its safety systems installation business. 13-Nov-2001 Brewin Dolphin, the stockbroker, has acquired Russell Newth for an initial £0.9m. 12-Nov-2001 Creston has acquired Real Adventure Marketing Communications, the Bath-based marketing services company, for £7.2m. 12-Nov-2001 Goldshield is to acquire the Antigen International, Antigen Overseas and Anpharm subsidiaries of Antigen Holdings of Ireland for £9.4m, in order to gain the distribution rights for a number of sterile pharmaceutical products. 09-Nov-2001 Enterprise has acquired Brophy, the provider of ground maintenance and street care services to local authorities, from Thames Water for £4m. 09-Nov-2001 Taylor Nelson Sofres is to acquire Theatrical Entertainment Services and sister company RapidChek Reporting, the US supplier of cinema tracking services, for £26m. 09-Nov-2001 Entertainment Rights has acquired Woodland Animations for £5.1m, in order to gain the rights to Postman Pat and other children's characters. 08-Nov-2001 Eurocall is to acquire the UK business of RSL Communications for about £10m, in order to gain £2m of monthly telephone billings and up to 25 staff. 08-Nov-2001 White Young Green has acquired H&ES, the Belfast-based environmental consultancy, for £0.2m. 07-Nov-2001 Skanska Networks has acquired MGT, the Leeds-based telecoms installation contractor with 400 staff, for £4.2m and plans to establish a new head office in the city. 07-Nov-2001 Peebles Publishing, the Glasgow-based publisher of trade journals with 45 staff, has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms, and will be renamed Peebles Media. 07-Nov-2001 Lydney Products, the Forest of Dean-based manufacturer of interiors for buses and trains, has been bought out of administration by Lydney Vehicle Systems, saving 60 jobs. 07-Nov-2001 DML has acquired LSC Group, the Tamworth-based engineering logistics company with 200 staff, in order to improve the operational efficiency of its naval dockyard in Plymouth. 07-Nov-2001 Thales has sold Racal Instruments, the manufacturer of aerospace and defence test systems, to a consortium of US venture capitalists led by JF Lehman for £85m. 07-Nov-2001 Bunzl has acquired WA Blyth, the Swansea-based distributor of personal protection equipment and hygiene supplies with annual sales of £16m. 06-Nov-2001 Scottish Radio Holdings is to acquire Southampton-based radio station Wave 105 from the Wireless Group for £18m, and is also paying £1m for a 25% stake in Fife-based Kingdom FM. 06-Nov-2001 Box Carton has acquired Swan Fields Packaging to create a combined carton and litho laminated box business with sales of £7m, and Box Carton will transfer its business from Birmingham to the Swan Fields site in West Bromwich. 06-Nov-2001 Galleon Group, the graphics design and interactive media business, is to carry out a reverse takeover of Andaman Resources in a £13m deal that will give it a listing on Aim. 06-Nov-2001 Overseal Foods, the supplier of food colours, is being sold by RHM to Braes Group for £25m. 06-Nov-2001 Vosper Thornycroft is to acquire Griffin Services, the provider of facilities management and logistics services to the US military, for £20m. 05-Nov-2001 Anite has acquired Braid Hill Holdings, the Edinburgh-based supplier of public sector software, for about £0.3m. 05-Nov-2001 Creative Outsourcing Solutions, the cosmetics and toiletries manufacturer, has undergone a £47m management buy-out backed by Barclays Private Equity, and the deal includes the Revlon plant in Maesteg. 05-Nov-2001 Laird has acquired R&F Products, the US supplier of electromagnetic interference absorber products, for an initial £3m. 02-Nov-2001 Tribal Group has acquired Cambridge Training & Development, the e-learning consultancy, for £4.2m. 02-Nov-2001 Smiths Group has acquired Bivona Medical Technologies, the US supplier of silicone tubes for medical use, from Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics for £24m. 02-Nov-2001 Ennstone has acquired Tarmac Northern's West Coast quarrying and asphalt operations at Furness, Fort William, Aviemore and Elgin for £2.8m. 02-Nov-2001 Sportal, the sports internet company, has been acquired by UKbetting for £0.2m, and the remaining 60 UK-based staff will be made redundant. 02-Nov-2001 Axon, the IT services company, is to acquire the Bywater business transformation consultancy for £7m. 02-Nov-2001 Prudential is to sell its general insurance business to Winterthur of Switzerland for £353m, and has also announced plans to shed up to 2,100 jobs at sites in London, Reading, Belfast and Stirling. 02-Nov-2001 Brake Bros has acquired VDL, the French regional food wholesaler, for £3m. 01-Nov-2001 Chloride has acquired Continuous Power International, the Bedford-based supplier of power protection equipment, for undisclosed terms. 31-Oct-2001 Inver House Distillers, the Airdrie-based whisky company with five distilleries and 130 staff, has been acquired by Pacific Spirits of Thailand for £56m. 31-Oct-2001 VFG, the TV and film industry distributor, has sold its sales and manufacturing operations to management for £4.1m. 31-Oct-2001 John Menzies is to acquire the Sheffield and Guildford news wholesaling operations of Turners News for a reported £15m. 30-Oct-2001 Highbury House Communications has acquired Property Mart Magazine, the publisher of magazines in the East London and West Essex areas, for up to £5m. 30-Oct-2001 Oxford Instruments has acquired CMI International, the US manufacturer of equipment to measure thin metallic coatings, for about £1.3m. 30-Oct-2001 Scapa has acquired Cable Components, the Blackburn-based supplier of cable wrapping tapes, for undisclosed terms. 30-Oct-2001 BD Kendle Engineering, the Yarmouth-based supplier of equipment to the oil and gas industry, has been acquired by Weatherford International of the US in a deal estimated at £10m. 30-Oct-2001 Liffe, the London International Financial Futures & Options Exchange, is to be acquired by Paris-based Euronext for £555m. 30-Oct-2001 HIT Entertainment is to expand its children's media rights business with the acquisition of the Pingu animated penguin for £16m. 30-Oct-2001 Berry Birch & Noble is planning a reverse takeover of the Berkeley independent financial advisory business, in a deal that values Berkeley at £70m. 30-Oct-2001 Wyevale Garden Centres has bought Fosters Nurseries, the operator of garden centres near Lichfield and Stafford, for £7.6m. 30-Oct-2001 Electric Word has acquired the schools management publishing business of The Stationery Office for a nominal sum. 29-Oct-2001 Interserve has sold its Dudley-based fire protection business to Tyco of the US for £12m. 29-Oct-2001 Wyko Industrial Services has sold its Tufthane and PPL polyurethane product operations in Coventry and Retford to management for £3.5m. 29-Oct-2001 United Co-op has acquired the Willis chain of convenience stores, which includes 12 sites mainly in South Yorkshire. 29-Oct-2001 Scottish & Newcastle has sold 456 leased pubs to Royal Bank of Scotland for £260m, but will continue to manage the properties under fixed-term contracts. 29-Oct-2001 Thus has sold its Interactive Media & Content phone services business to iTouch for £3.5m. 29-Oct-2001 Computacenter is to acquire GE Capital IT Solutions' UK and French operations for £2m, while GECITS will acquire Computacenter's German business for £0.2m, as part of a new international alliance. 26-Oct-2001 Biggart Baillie has acquired Steedman Ramage, the law firm with 44 employees and offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh. 26-Oct-2001 Global Group is to acquire Paul Layzell Foods, the manufacturer of dumplings and pastry products, for £0.5m. 25-Oct-2001 Oystertec has acquired the plumbing division of Delta for £28m, as part of a strategy to develop its own European pipe-fitting distribution network. 25-Oct-2001 Brockhampton, the owner of Portsmouth Water, is planning to undergo a £71m management buy-out, involving the creation of a special purpose buy-out vehicle called South Downs. 25-Oct-2001 Bunzl has acquired Nebraska-based Packers, the supplier of disposable products to the beef and pork industry, for undisclosed terms. 24-Oct-2001 Sage has acquired Coala, the French supplier of business management software, for £13m. 24-Oct-2001 Senior has sold two industrial businesses to Tyco of the US for £1.6m, and is now looking to sell a further six businesses. 24-Oct-2001 John Mowlem has acquired Daubney, the Lincoln-based mechanical and electrical contractor, for up to £5.5m. 24-Oct-2001 Hartest has acquired Tinsley Group, the Croydon-based manufacturer of cable fault testing equipment, for £1.9m, and is also raising £3m in a share placing. 23-Oct-2001 Fenner is to acquire the Enerka conveyor belt business of Luxembourg-based Unipoly for £47m, in order to become the world's largest supplier of heavyweight belts. 23-Oct-2001 Toms of Denmark has acquired Parrs Quality Confectionery, the Poole-based manufacturer of wine gums with 250 staff. 23-Oct-2001 Sanctuary has acquired the Black Box Music classical and jazz record label for £0.3m. 23-Oct-2001 Sopheon has confirmed plans to acquire Orbital Software of Edinburgh for £13m, which is expected to lead to job cuts among the 325-strong combined workforce. 23-Oct-2001 Prudential is to acquire YoungPoong Life, the South Korean insurance company, from Korea Zinc for £20m. 23-Oct-2001 Alba is to acquire Pulse Home Products, the owner of the Breville Europe domestic appliances brand, from the Baxi Group for £12m. 23-Oct-2001 Vp, the equipment outsourcing specialist, has acquired the assets and goodwill of the shoring business of Mechplant from the Shepherd Building Group for £3.1m. 23-Oct-2001 RM has acquired Softease, the Derbyshire-based educational software developer, for up to £4.9m. 23-Oct-2001 Chesapeake has sold its Consumer Promotions International display business, which includes 140 staff at a factory in Leicester, to a management buy-out for undisclosed terms. 23-Oct-2001 ITG Group has acquired the Dunfermline-based Transaction Services Division of De La Rue for £6m, in order to expand its business servicing cellular and utility prepayments. 22-Oct-2001 Putsmans and Willcox Lane Clutterbuck are to merge to create a combined Birmingham-based law firm with 21 partners and more than 220 staff. 22-Oct-2001 Budget Financial Services has acquired Dial Direct Insurance Marketing, the insurance intermediary with 536 Coventry-based staff. 22-Oct-2001 Pennon Group has acquired two waste management companies - Suffolk Waste Disposal Company for £8.6m and Manchester-based Lavelle & Sons for £3.6m. 19-Oct-2001 Amberley has sold its Lawrence Industries mineral and chemicals subsidiary to Phipps & Company for £9.5m. 19-Oct-2001 Compass is to acquire Manpower Kantineservice, the Norwegian staff restaurant company, for undisclosed terms. 19-Oct-2001 EMT Healthcare has bought Estchem Wholesale Supplies, the Manchester-based distributor of pharmaceutical products, for undisclosed terms. 19-Oct-2001 Midlands Electricity's power distribution business is being acquired by UtiliCorp of the US for £1.4bn. 19-Oct-2001 Bunzl has expanded its packaging consumables business with the acquisition of the DKI Group in Denmark and the Eastern Paper division of EPC Industries in Canada. 18-Oct-2001 Ten Alps Communications is to acquire Pacesetter Holdings, the London-based events organiser, for up to £2m. 18-Oct-2001 Cox Radcliffe has sold its Merseyside bakery interests to Preston-based Bako for £3m, in order to focus on supplying the takeaway and restaurant sectors. 18-Oct-2001 Nicholl Food Packaging has acquired Ekco Packaging, the Chesham-based manufacturer of aluminium foil containers with sites in Portsmouth, Belgium and France. 18-Oct-2001 Pendragon is to acquire Ford's 49% stake in their Stripestar joint venture of 28 car dealerships, in a deal worth £5.5m. 18-Oct-2001 RMC Concrete Products has acquired Russell Concrete Products in order to gain three additional manufacturing plants in Scotland. 18-Oct-2001 Oscar Faber, the engineering and facilities management consultancy, has been acquired by Maunsell for undisclosed terms, creating a new group called Faber Maunsell. 18-Oct-2001 Scott Wilson has acquired Oceans Engineering, the St Austell-based wind energy specialist, for undisclosed terms. 18-Oct-2001 Sytner has acquired two car dealerships in Knutsford - Ron Stratton Land Rover and Ron Stratton Bentley - for £1.2m. 17-Oct-2001 Bals Electrical Engineering, the Wakefield-based supplier of electricity sub-station services with 170 staff, has been acquired by General Electric of the US for undisclosed terms. 17-Oct-2001 Fortnum & Mason, the upmarket grocery retailer, is to quit the stock market following a takeover offer from the Weston family, which already owns about 90% of the business. 17-Oct-2001 Whyte & Mackay and Invergordon Distillers have been sold to a management buy-out by Fortune Brands of the US for £208m, creating a new group of five malt distilleries called Kyndal. 17-Oct-2001 Marks & Spencer has agreed to sell 18 French stores to Galeries Lafayette for undisclosed terms, but no buyer has been found for the Belgian stores. 17-Oct-2001 Majestic Wine has acquired Les Celliers de Calais, the French operator of wine warehouses, for £7.2m. 16-Oct-2001 Clarity Commerce Solutions is to acquire Flex Systems, the supplier of leisure management systems to local authorities, for £3.9m. 16-Oct-2001 Alltools has acquired H Hopkinson, the Nottingham-based tool and ironmongery retailer, and is now planning further expansion across the Midlands through the acquisition of up to 10 more branches over the coming years. 16-Oct-2001 Wightlink, the operator of Isle of Wight ferry services, has undergone a £180m management buy-out backed by Royal Bank of Scotland. 16-Oct-2001 Credit Suisse Asset Management is to acquire Sun Life of Canada's UK fund management operations for up to £130m. 16-Oct-2001 Innovation Group has acquired Cosy, the Fareham-based supplier of systems development and integration services, in a £9m deal. 15-Oct-2001 Pimpernel, the manufacturer of place-mats, has undergone a £25m management buy-out, and is now seeking acquisitions. 15-Oct-2001 John Fredericks Plastics, the Huddersfield-based window fabricator, has undergone a £12m management buy-out, and now hopes to expand the 174-strong workforce. 12-Oct-2001 MiniBusPlus, the minibus insurance wholesaler, has undergone a management buy-out from Bayliss & Cooke for several million pounds. 12-Oct-2001 BAA is to sell its World Duty Free Americas business to Duty Free Acquisition of the US for £84m. 12-Oct-2001 Ebookers.com has acquired Lawson Interline Travel, the supplier of discount airline fares and hotel rooms to employees within the travel industry, from its liquidators. 11-Oct-2001 Digital Animations is to acquire Black Graphic Design for £0.5m, in order to expand its internet and interactive TV design business. 11-Oct-2001 Balfour Beatty is to acquire John Kennedy Holdings, the Manchester-based utilities service company, for £43m. 11-Oct-2001 Arcadia has announced a £35m deal to sell the Warehouse, Principles, Hawkshead and Racing Green retail chains to management buyout vehicle Rubicon Retail. 11-Oct-2001 Marley has sold its waterproofing business to a new company called The Waterproofing Group for undisclosed terms. 11-Oct-2001 RMR is to acquire Learning Angles, the London-based developer of online training and electronic learning products, for £0.4m. 10-Oct-2001 Shell is to acquire Texaco's interest in the Equilon and Motiva joint ventures, in a £2.6bn deal that will make it the largest petrol retailer in the US. 10-Oct-2001 Weeks Group has acquired Colin Wykes Associates, the Dorking-based building and hydrographic surveyor, for £0.2m. 09-Oct-2001 Tagsa, the Newbury-based manufacturer of self-adhesive materials, has been acquired by Adhesive Specialities of London. 09-Oct-2001 Grampian Country Foods is to buy Malton Foods, the pigmeat processor, from Uniq for about £20m. 09-Oct-2001 Robert Wiseman Dairies is planning to create 100 more jobs at its new milk and cream plant at Droitwich Spa by the end of the year. 09-Oct-2001 Golden Vale and Express Dairies are to sell their Dale Farm milk business in Northern Ireland to Dromona Quality Foods for £18m, with Express receiving 80% of the proceeds. 09-Oct-2001 Electronics Boutique has acquired Scoregames, the French video games retailer with 37 stores, for an initial £7.6m. 09-Oct-2001 Kerry Group has acquired the Sunderland-based sauces and flavoured butters division of Voyager Foods. 08-Oct-2001 Brammer has acquired Grupo Rabinad, the Spanish industrial services group, for £1.8m, and Carl Fischer of Germany for £0.7m. 08-Oct-2001 Food From Scotland has acquired Le Maison Du Patissier, the supplier of bread and desserts to the catering sector. 08-Oct-2001 Cannon & Stokes, the Leicester-based aerospace engineering company with 60 staff, has undergone a £4m management buy-out from Tamworth-based Phoenix Manufacturing. 05-Oct-2001 Aventis has confirmed plans to sell its agrochemicals division to Bayer of Germany for £4.5bn, which could lead to changes in staffing levels at sites in Norwich and elsewhere in the UK. 05-Oct-2001 Askern has sold its South Yorkshire-based steel reels business to a management buy-out for £1.5m, and the business will be renamed as Zoto Engineering. 05-Oct-2001 Towergate Underwriting Group is to acquire Folgate Insurance for £20m, and is now looking to spend a further £40m on acquisitions. 05-Oct-2001 Unilever has sold its London-based Myhome home cleaning service to Chores Group for undisclosed terms. 04-Oct-2001 Bellow Machine Company has acquired the SMP sewing machine parts business from British Mohair for undisclosed terms, which will involve the transfer of seven SMP staff from Bradford to Leeds. 04-Oct-2001 Virgin has sold the Our Price music chain to Brazin of Australia in exchange for a foothold in the Australian market for its V-Shop and Megastore brands, and the 77 Our Price stores will be rebranded as Sanity. 04-Oct-2001 Barric, the Diss-based contract electronics manufacturer with 35 staff, has undergone a £1.9m management buy-out. 04-Oct-2001 BG Group is to acquire Enron Oil & Gas India from Enron for £262m, in order to expand its opportunities in oil and gas exploration off the west coast of India. 04-Oct-2001 Hitachi Credit has acquired Trowbridge Vehicle Rentals for £3.9m, in order to expand its Fleetlease commercial vehicle contract hire and fleet management business. 04-Oct-2001 Chime Communications has acquired MMK Markt, the German consumer and corporate public relations business, for an initial £1.8m. 03-Oct-2001 Sara Lee Courtaulds has sold its Penn Nyla textiles business, which has 250 staff at sites in Derby and Long Eaton, to the Harris Watson investment group for undisclosed terms. 03-Oct-2001 Torday & Carlisle is to sell its Diesel Marine International business to Valve Technics for up to £7.2m. 02-Oct-2001 SSL International is to sell its continence care business to Coloplast of Denmark for £80m. 02-Oct-2001 Reg Vardy has acquired the Ian Philp Mercedes-Benz dealership in Glasgow for £4m, taking its total number of dealerships to 77. 02-Oct-2001 Brake Bros has acquired Scotia Campbell Marine, the supplier of fresh fish and seafood to caterers from two branches in Edinburgh and Glasgow, for £4m. 02-Oct-2001 Taylor Nelson Sofres is to acquire Sponsorship Information Services, the supplier of intelligence on sponsored events with 36 staff. 02-Oct-2001 WH Ireland is to acquire Stockholm Investments for an initial £0.4m, in order to increase the funds under management at its London office. 01-Oct-2001 John Menzies has sold its chain of Early Learning Centre toy shops to a management buy-out backed by 3i for £30m. 01-Oct-2001 Sports Resource Group is to acquire Multisport for up to £13m, in order to expand its sports rights business. 01-Oct-2001 Xtreme Information, the advertising monitoring service, is to be acquired by Veronis Suhler of the US for about £35m. 01-Oct-2001 John Laing has sold its contracting business to O'Rourke for a nominal sum, and has also announced plans to raise £73m in a rights issue. 28-Sep-2001 Bowmer Bond Narrow Fabrics, the Ashbourne-based fabric manufacturer with 100 staff, has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms. 27-Sep-2001 Sage is to acquire Micro Information Products, the US provider of specialised business applications for non-profit organisations, for £14m. 27-Sep-2001 Imagination Technologies is to acquire Cross Products, the Leeds-based developer of microprocessor tools, for £4.2m. 27-Sep-2001 White Young Green has acquired Gemica, the Irish environmental consultancy, for £3.8m, and Fisher Wilson Planning of London for £0.9m. 27-Sep-2001 Baromix, the manufacturer of concrete mixers, has been acquired by Altrad of France for undisclosed terms. 27-Sep-2001 Sportscard, the provider of credit cards to sports fans, is being acquired by UKbetting for £4.4m. 26-Sep-2001 WPP has acquired AKKA, the French public relations firm with 22 staff, in order to expand its Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide business. 25-Sep-2001 Manro Performance Chemicals, the Stalybridge-based surfactants manufacturer with 125 employees, has been acquired by Stepan Company of the US for undisclosed terms. 25-Sep-2001 Highbury House Communications has acquired DMG World Media's Power Portfolio of magazines for £0.8m, in order to expand its Cumulus Business Media subsidiary. 21-Sep-2001 Textflow is expanding its Belfast-based printing business with the acquisition of the Northern Ireland operations of logistics company Astron. 20-Sep-2001 Marlborough Stirling is to acquire Exchange FS, the operator of trading platforms, for £87m, in order to expand its financial services software business. 20-Sep-2001 Jarvis Newman has acquired TCL Granby, the property maintenance company with 110 staff in Mitcham and the City of London. 19-Sep-2001 White Young Green has acquired MCD Consult, the Irish civil engineering consultancy, for £1.3m. 19-Sep-2001 Charles Taylor Consulting has acquired the general aviation loss adjusting business of HCC Insurance Holdings of the US for £5.3m. 18-Sep-2001 Smiths Group has sold two non-core businesses for £20m, as part of a strategy to focus on aerospace, medical and industrials. 18-Sep-2001 Incepta has acquired two sponsorship consultancies - Karen Earl and Redmandarin - for a total £10m. 18-Sep-2001 IFG Group has acquired Saunderson Ventures, the London-based supplier of financial advisory services, for £7m. 17-Sep-2001 Carphone Warehouse is acquiring 13 London stores from Odyssey Corporation, the independent phone retailer, for £0.6m. 17-Sep-2001 AF Blakemore has acquired I Mogford & Sons, the south Wales-based cash and carry depot with turnover of more than £10m. 17-Sep-2001 Portman Building Society is to acquire Sun Bank, the Stevenage-based mortgage specialist with 180 staff, from Sun Life of Canada for £95m. 17-Sep-2001 Ryland Group has sold its Renault dealerships in Warwick, Rugby and Coventry to Sutton Park Motor for £1.6m. 14-Sep-2001 Medicals Direct has acquired the medico-legal and clinics operations of The Lancer Group, in order to expand its business in the insurance and legal industries. 14-Sep-2001 La Tasca, the chain of 16 tapas bars and restaurants, has undergone a £28m management buy-in, supported by Penta Capital. 13-Sep-2001 Celltech is to acquire Thiemann, the German pharmaceuticals marketing company, for £31m, and is also buying an undisclosed stake in Neogenesis of the US and the rights to the drug discovery technology of Abgenix. 13-Sep-2001 Kier has acquired Allison Homes, the housebuilder that trades as Swallow Homes in eastern England, for £17m. 13-Sep-2001 Merant is to sell its DataDirect enterprise data business to Golden Gate Capital of the US for £21m. 12-Sep-2001 Danisco of Denmark has sold its Danisco Pack subsidiary in the UK to Mondi Packaging for £64m. 12-Sep-2001 Richmond Foods has confirmed plans to buy Nestle's UK ice cream business for £5.8m. 12-Sep-2001 David S Smith is acquiring a number of corrugated packaging operations from Mondi Packaging for £21m, including sheet feeder plants in Hastings and Kettering. 12-Sep-2001 BPB is to acquire Dogan Alci, the Turkish producer of building plasters, for £4.8m. 11-Sep-2001 Homestyle Group has acquired The Bed Shed, the Scottish bed retailer with 17 stores, for an initial £4.5m. 11-Sep-2001 CD Bramall has acquired Tyne Tees Commercial Vehicles, which includes DAF and LDV dealerships in Newcastle, Darlington and Middlesbrough, for £1.5m. 11-Sep-2001 Torex is to acquire Hiscom, the Dutch supplier of hospital information systems, for £21m. 11-Sep-2001 Spirent is to sell its Sensing Solutions division, which makes instruments to measure temperature and pressure and employs 2,000 staff, to General Electric of the US for £152m. 11-Sep-2001 Millfield has acquired Heritage for £10m, in order to double its network of independent financial advisers to 270. 11-Sep-2001 WPP has acquired Mediafax, the marketing research agency in Puerto Rico with 72 staff, in order to expand its Kantar Media Research division. 10-Sep-2001 United Business Media has acquired Kenko Sangyo Shimbun, the Japanese exhibition and publishing group, for about £5m. 10-Sep-2001 Havelock Europa has acquired McIntosh 88, the supplier of educational science laboratories, for an initial £3m. 10-Sep-2001 Roxton Bailey Robinson, the operator of hunting and fishing holidays, has merged with Frontiers International of the US to create a combined group called Frontiers & Roxton with £40m annual turnover. 10-Sep-2001 Keller Group has acquired Suncoast, the US manufacturer of steel cabling, for £62m. 10-Sep-2001 Greene King is to acquire Old English Inns for £103m, in order to expand its chain of pubs in the south. 10-Sep-2001 Allied Domecq is to acquire Bodegas y Bebidas, the Spanish wine producer, for £174m. 10-Sep-2001 Leisure Link, the amusement machine operator, is to be acquired by Henderson Private Capital for £230m. 10-Sep-2001 Euromoney Institutional Investor has acquired Gulf Publishing Company, the US publishing house, for about £6m. 07-Sep-2001 Nidd Vale Group has acquired Cragside Motors, the Harrogate-based Mercedes-Benz dealership, from Hanro for undisclosed terms. 07-Sep-2001 Elmar Services, the Aberdeen-based manufacturer of oilfield pressure control equipment with 250 staff, has been bought by Varco International of the US for undisclosed terms. 07-Sep-2001 Ben Burgess & Co is expanding its agricultural engineering business in East Anglia through the acquisition of three Blyth & Pawsey depots in Newmarket, Bury St Edmunds and Saffron Walden. 07-Sep-2001 City Centre Restaurants is to sell its chain of 49 Deep Pan Pizza outlets to a management buy-out for £4m. 06-Sep-2001 Pearson has sold its FT Energy publishing business to McGraw-Hill for about £59m. 06-Sep-2001 Allied Domecq is to acquire Kuemmerling, the German distiller that produces spirits and bitters, for £128m. 05-Sep-2001 Invensys has sold its Hoffman vacuum systems business in the US to Gardner Denver for £31m. 05-Sep-2001 Hewlett-Packard is to acquire Compaq for £15.7bn to create a world leader in personal computer equipment, but up to 15,000 jobs could be lost in the merged business. 05-Sep-2001 United Business Media has acquired UK Floorcovering Exhibitions for £1.3m. 04-Sep-2001 DCC has acquired BP's oil marketing and distribution business in Scotland and northern England, including 200 staff, nine storage depots, 90 road tankers and three call centres. 04-Sep-2001 Tribal Group has acquired Ben Johnson-Hill Associates, the provider of diagnostic services to further education colleges, for £3.3m. 04-Sep-2001 Advance Visual Communications has acquired Xoo, the London-based new media consultancy, for £0.1m. 04-Sep-2001 Planit Holdings is to acquire Licom Systems, the Coventry-based supplier of CAD software to the metal and woodworking industries, for £6.1m. 04-Sep-2001 Drinkwater Engineering and The Vehicle Application Centre have merged their neighbouring engineering businesses in Leyland, with the loss of 14 jobs. 04-Sep-2001 SIG has acquired Capco, the distributor of insulation products, for £27m. 04-Sep-2001 Anite has acquired Parsec Systems, the Aylesbury-based e-business services group, for an initial £7m. 04-Sep-2001 Inchcape has acquired Bates Motor Group, the operator of 10 BMW, Audi and VW dealerships in the south east, for £22m. 03-Sep-2001 Jessops has acquired Richards Photo Centres, the Yorkshire-based chain of three photographic stores, for undisclosed terms. 03-Sep-2001 Kelda is to acquire four New England water supply businesses from American Water Works Company for £162m, as part of a strategy to expand its Aquarion subsidiary in the US. 31-Aug-2001 Intercare has acquired Federa and Veramic, two Belgian pharmaceutical suppliers with a total workforce of 238, for £14m. 31-Aug-2001 Britannic Assurance is to acquire Blairlogie Capital Management of Edinburgh for undisclosed terms, in order to expand its Britannic Asset Management subsidiary. 30-Aug-2001 Pland has acquired Associated Metal, the Glasgow-based stainless steel fabrication manufacturer with 30 staff, for undisclosed terms. 29-Aug-2001 Economist Group is to sell the Journal of Commerce transport publishing business to Commonwealth Business Media of the US for undisclosed terms. 29-Aug-2001 Mission Testing is to acquire Special Testing Solutions, the Manchester-based software testing company with 43 staff, for £3.7m. 29-Aug-2001 Cinven is planning to buy the trade and health publications of Vivendi Universal of France for about £1.3bn. 28-Aug-2001 Merlin Colour Printers of Canvey has been acquired by Nottingham-based print management specialist Bridge Direct, securing the future of 25 jobs. 27-Aug-2001 Allied Domecq is to acquire Montana, the New Zealand winemaker, for £300m, as Lion Nathan of Australia has withdrawn from the takeover battle. 27-Aug-2001 NewMedia Spark is planning to acquire Sputz, the German broking and venture capital group, for £30m. 27-Aug-2001 Impress Group has sold its Paterson photographic equipment division to a management buy-out for undisclosed terms, and the eight staff will be relocated from Telford to Tipton. 24-Aug-2001 Acordis has sold its Leek-based fine chemicals business to Tessenderlo of Belgium for undisclosed terms, which will involve the transfer of 90 jobs. 24-Aug-2001 RPS has acquired Town Planning Consultancy for £7.8m, in order to expand its town planning and transport division. 24-Aug-2001 Icollector, the online auction business, is to be acquired by Ableauctions of the US for up to £9.6m, on the condition that a £2.4m share placing goes ahead. 23-Aug-2001 Devro, the sausage casings company, is to sell its lossmaking cellulose business to Teepak for £5m, in order to focus on its traditional collagen manufacturing operations. 23-Aug-2001 Balfour Beatty is to acquire National Engineering & Contracting, the Ohio-based civil engineering company, for £12m, in order to expand its coverage of the US market. 23-Aug-2001 Compass Software has acquired Guided Image, the Leicestershire-based supplier of design software, for an initial £1.5m. 22-Aug-2001 Tribal Group is to acquire GWT Group, the supplier of consultancy services to the local government sector, for £4.9m. 22-Aug-2001 Sphinx CST, the Lynx subsidiary, is to sell its Cisco networking products business to Ingram Micro for about £10m. 22-Aug-2001 Broadcastle is to acquire Cash Express, the invoice discounting company, for £0.8m. 21-Aug-2001 Go-Ahead has acquired Reed Aviation, the provider of ground handling services at six airports, for £5.3m. 21-Aug-2001 Jarvis Porter has sold its Nottingham-based swing ticket and tags business to a management buy-out, while its Hinckley plastic carton and vision packaging equipment business has been sold to Hallmark Cards for £0.4m. 21-Aug-2001 Avery Dennison Roll Label, the Cumbernauld-based supplier of self-adhesive labels with 50 staff, has been sold to management and changed its name to Merroc. 21-Aug-2001 Unilever is selling its North American seafood business to the US arm of Nippon Suisan for £125m, which will involve the transfer of about 750 staff. 20-Aug-2001 Owen Brown, the supplier of tents for outside events that employs 70 staff in Castle Donington, has been acquired by Generale Location of France. 20-Aug-2001 Macfarlane is to sell its plastics division to Tyco Plastics of the US for £49m, and the proceeds will be used to acquire packaging companies in the UK and Europe. 20-Aug-2001 Bett Brothers has sold its Dundee-based pub and hotel division to a management buy-out backed by Bank of Scotland for £13m. 20-Aug-2001 Scoot has sold the Loot free-advertising newspaper to Daily Mail & General Trust for £45m, and is now seeking a buyer for its remaining businesses. 20-Aug-2001 William M Mercer is to acquire SCA Consulting, the supplier of advice on performance-related pay packages, for undisclosed terms. 20-Aug-2001 Asda Property is being acquired by a management buy-out backed by British Land for £232m. 20-Aug-2001 Bulgin has acquired Powertron, the Cambridge-based manufacturer of power management products, for about £1m. 17-Aug-2001 WPP has acquired MJM Creative Services, the US conference and event production company with 80 staff, in order to expand its Brand Union division. 16-Aug-2001 Intrukt has acquired Office Star Yorkshire, the Ripon-based office supplies company with 15 staff, as part of a strategy to develop a nationwide network. 16-Aug-2001 Market Research Solutions has been acquired by Harris Interactive of the US, which will involve the transfer of 75 staff at offices in Oxford, North London and Newport. 16-Aug-2001 Harvey Nash is to acquire Broadbay Networks, the US recruitment company, for up to £2.2m. 16-Aug-2001 Mace Limited, the construction management company with 700 staff, has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms. 16-Aug-2001 George Wimpey has reached agreement to acquire Alfred McAlpine's housebuilding business for £461m, which will lead to the loss of about 450 administrative jobs. 15-Aug-2001 Royal Bank of Scotland is to acquire Euro Sales Finance, the invoice discounting company, for £68m. 15-Aug-2001 Center Parcs is to acquire the Oasis Forest Holiday Village in the Lake District from Bourne Leisure for up to £90m. 15-Aug-2001 BPP Holdings has sold an 82% stake in its Blackstone Press legal publishing business to Oxford University Press for about £11m. 15-Aug-2001 Cadbury Schweppes is to buy the ReaLemon and ReaLime juice brands in the US, including a New York factory, from Eagle Family Foods for £90m. 15-Aug-2001 Kingfisher Construction Services, the East Midlands retail refurbishment specialist, is to undergo a £3m management buy-out. 14-Aug-2001 AIT Group, the supplier of IT solutions for retail financial services, is planning to acquire Information Management Associates of the US for £12m. 14-Aug-2001 Rexam has acquired the Danish plastic packaging operation of Danapak and certain assets of Tolkki of Finland for about £16m. 14-Aug-2001 CampusLink has acquired NetNet, the rival supplier of telecoms services to universities. 13-Aug-2001 Incisive Media is acquiring Matching Hat, the publisher of financial magazines, for up to £11m. 13-Aug-2001 Fitzpatrick has acquired TSS, the Denbighshire-based specialist subcontractor, for undisclosed terms. 13-Aug-2001 Claims Direct, the personal injury claims specialist, has recommended a £19m takeover bid from its two founders. 13-Aug-2001 Relyon, the bed manufacturer with 850 UK staff, is to be acquired by Steinhoff International of South Africa for £37m. 13-Aug-2001 Seacon Holdings, the freight forwarding company, is to be acquired by a new company called JCR for £11m. 13-Aug-2001 CRH has acquired Hallet Materials and Des Moines Asphalt & Paving in the US for £53m, as well as a 25% stake in the Mashav cement business in Israel. 13-Aug-2001 Paladin Resources has acquired the Danish business of Enterprise Oil for £25m. 10-Aug-2001 MacLellan Group has acquired Ramoneur Cleaning & Support Services for £5m. 10-Aug-2001 Incepta has acquired Gunpowder, the Italian marketing services company, for up to £12m, and Admaster and MSI Strategic Communications of the US for up to £5.7m. 10-Aug-2001 Balli has acquired Klockner from Eon of Germany for £670m, in order to become one of the largest independent steel distributors in the world. 09-Aug-2001 French has sold its Regalead decorative glazing products business to a management buy-out for £2.1m. 08-Aug-2001 VNU of the Netherlands has agreed to sell its educational information division to 3i, the UK venture capital group, for £121m. 08-Aug-2001 Rok Property Solutions is to acquire Retail Maintenance Services, the Glasgow-based repair group, for £4.6m. 07-Aug-2001 Compass is to acquire Crothall Services, the US provider of ancillary healthcare services, for £120m, which will help it win hospital management contracts in North America. 07-Aug-2001 Uvine has acquired wine merchant Michael Morgan for undisclosed terms, in order to add storage and transport facilities to its online wine exchange business. 06-Aug-2001 Tiscali of Italy has acquired Tiny Online from Tiny Computers for £8m, in order to expand its internet service business in the UK. 06-Aug-2001 United Business Media is to acquire Roper Starch Worldwide, the US consumer market research and trends consultancy, for about £50m. 06-Aug-2001 Sports Resource Group is to acquire IEC, the Swedish sports media rights company, for £17m. 06-Aug-2001 MotionPoster has acquired Evtacon Productions in a £0.3m deal that will help the company to commission new advertising sites. 03-Aug-2001 BV Group is to acquire Midnight Communications, the public relations company with offices in London and Brighton, for up to £1m. 03-Aug-2001 Myson Pumps has undergone a management buy-out from Baxi Heating, securing the future of 150 jobs in King's Lynn, and the business will be renamed Circulating Pumps. 03-Aug-2001 Chelsfield and TrizecHahn are to sell their Global Switch telehousing joint venture to Risanamento Napoli for £305m, and will then take a majority stake in the Italian property group. 03-Aug-2001 Healthcall, the provider of out of hours medical services, has agreed to a £110m takeover bid from Nestor Healthcare. 03-Aug-2001 First Group has acquired Verona Bus Service of Wisconsin for about £4m, in order to expand its school bus business in the US. 02-Aug-2001 Morgan Sindall has completed the acquisition of Carillion Housing from Carillion for £6.2m, in order to expand its Lovell affordable housing business. 02-Aug-2001 Survey Supplies, the distributor of surveying equipment, has acquired the Huntingdon office of Californian firm Trimble Navigation, which will involve the transfer of 14 staff. 02-Aug-2001 TDG has acquired IWT Worldwide Logistics of Ireland for £12m, and is now looking to acquire companies with turnover of about £100m. 02-Aug-2001 Huntsworth is to acquire Harrison Cowley, the public relations firm, for up to £25m, in order to expand its marketing services business. 02-Aug-2001 Tripod Crest, the Northampton-based road builder, has undergone a £20m management buy-out. 02-Aug-2001 John Mowlem has acquired Pall Mall Holdings, the property support services company, in a £42m deal. 01-Aug-2001 Kymata, the Livingston-based optical components company, has been acquired by Alcatel Optronics of France for £82m. 31-Jul-2001 Nord Anglia has acquired Belle Associates, the specialist education consultancy that delivers online training packages to schools and libraries, for up to £2m. 31-Jul-2001 Cranswick is to acquire Continental Fine Foods, the Manchester-based supplier of meats and delicatessen products, for £12m. 31-Jul-2001 Waste Recycling Group is to acquire Integrated Waste Management, the operator of four Humberside landfill sites, for £30m. 31-Jul-2001 Hays has sold its non-core chemicals business to a management buy-in team called Albion Chemicals for £107m, which will involve the transfer of 850 staff at 16 depots throughout the country. 31-Jul-2001 Lloyds TSB Insurance has bought the brand name of Screentrade.co.uk, the online insurance broker, from Misys for undisclosed terms. 31-Jul-2001 Cordiant has acquired Presentation Communications International, the London-based live communications specialist with 60 staff. 30-Jul-2001 WPP is to acquire The Identity Business of Ireland, in order to expand its Enterprise IG global branding consultancy. 30-Jul-2001 Sportingbet.com has acquired SportsBook, the Caribbean-based online sports bookmaker, for an initial £36m, in order to increase its share of the US market. 30-Jul-2001 Galliford Try has acquired Knapp Group for £4m, in order to expand its Midas Homes housebuilding business in the south west of England. 30-Jul-2001 Mettoni has acquired Symetris, the supplier of communications systems and e-business solutions, for £4.4m, and the enlarged operation will form the core of the new Mettoni Systems Integration business. 30-Jul-2001 Insinger de Beaufort of the Netherlands is to acquire United Trust Bank for £8.7m, in order to gain a UK banking licence to expand its wealth management business. 30-Jul-2001 Baxters Group of Food Companies has acquired Garner's Foods, the Worcestershire-based manufacturer of pickles and salad dressings. 30-Jul-2001 Scottish Power has sold its electrical appliance servicing business to a management buy-out for undisclosed terms, which will secure the future of 140 of the 320 jobs in Cumbernauld and Castleford. 27-Jul-2001 Lister Bestcare, the supplier of body scanning units for the NHS and private hospitals, has doubled in size following the acquisition of Westminster Healthcare's diagnostic units in London, East Anglia and the south east. 27-Jul-2001 Virgin has agreed to sell its 16 French Megastores to Lagardere Media for £92m, and the proceeds will be used to expand its mobile phones and other Virgin operations throughout the world. 27-Jul-2001 Tate & Lyle is to sell its Domino Sugar cane refining business in the US to Refined Sugars of New York for up to £145m. 27-Jul-2001 Daily Mail & General Trust has acquired Metrolina Antiques & Collectibles Fairs of the US from GAH International for £2.8m. 26-Jul-2001 John Wood Group has acquired Lovegreen Turbine Services of the US for undisclosed terms, in order to increase its share of the international heavy industrial turbine market. 26-Jul-2001 Centrica has acquired 129 Halfords garages from Boots for £5.7m, and will invest £10m in the sites in order to expand the range of motoring services offered by its AA division. 26-Jul-2001 IPC Media, the consumer magazine publisher, has been acquired by AOL Time Warner for £1.15bn. 26-Jul-2001 HMV Media has agreed to hand over the online book retailing operations of Waterstone's to Amazon.co.uk, which is expected to lead to the closure of a dedicated fulfilment centre in Bath. 26-Jul-2001 Hunting is to acquire Performance Drilling Wyoming and Performance Boring Technologies for £2.7m, in order to expand its drilling technology business in the US. 25-Jul-2001 PeopleDoc, the Edinburgh-based collaboration software specialist, has been acquired by Hummingbird of Canada for £13m. 25-Jul-2001 Ellis Fairbank, the Yorkshire recruitment group with about 100 consultants, has undergone a £19m management buy-out backed by Lloyds TSB Development Capital. 25-Jul-2001 The Phone People has been bought out of administration by a consortium named Stablestock, and the new owners plan to reopen 23 stores over the next four weeks. 25-Jul-2001 Cadbury Schweppes has agreed to acquire La Casera, the Spanish lemonade company, for £72m. 25-Jul-2001 RMC is to sell the Ytong aerated concrete products business in Germany to Franz Haniel for £169m. 25-Jul-2001 Aero-Print, the Aylesbury-based airline ticket printer with 100 staff, has been bought out of administration by Avia Invest Leasing. 24-Jul-2001 Coats Viyella has sold its Somercotes-based Branded Menswear Unit to a management buy-out, securing the future of 210 jobs. 24-Jul-2001 Rohan, the outdoor clothing supplier with 23 shops, has been acquired by Piper Private Equity and the Baring English Growth Fund for undisclosed terms. 24-Jul-2001 Compass has acquired Vendepac, the supplier of vending machines, from TM Group for £84m. 24-Jul-2001 CGNU is to acquire the Insurance Corporation of Singapore from DBS Group for £152m, which will more than double its presence in Asia. 24-Jul-2001 Enic is to sell its ukbetting.com bookmaking business to a new company called UKbetting for £3m. 24-Jul-2001 Heal's, the home furnishings retailer, has accepted a £33m takeover offer from the Wittington investment company. 23-Jul-2001 Walker Greenbank has acquired Brushstrokes, the Oxford-based manufacturer of stencils for the decorative trade, for £0.25m, and will transfer production to its site in Loughborough. 20-Jul-2001 Cordiant Communications and Publicis of France have agreed to merge their media buying operations, which include Zenith Media and Publicis's Optimedia. 20-Jul-2001 HSBC Private Equity has sold Mira Showers, the former Caradon division, to Kohler of the US for £301m. 20-Jul-2001 Matalan is to acquire Lee Cooper, the jeans manufacturer, from Bridgepoint Capital for £45m. 20-Jul-2001 OneClickHR has acquired Parker Technologies, the Stoke-based developer of workplace time recording solutions, for up to £1.5m. 19-Jul-2001 Nord Anglia is to acquire Bright Horizons, the operator of 10 day care nurseries in the south of England, for £6m. 19-Jul-2001 Humber Growers has acquired tomato grower Van Heyningen Brothers for about £10m, and the new group will have more than 1,000 staff and trade as Humber VHB. 19-Jul-2001 Charnwood Group of Leicester has merged with Tubbs Group, which has operations in Nottingham and Wiltshire, to create a combined elastic manufacturing business called Stretchline with 500 staff. 19-Jul-2001 Tempus, the owner of the CIA media buying agency, has agreed to a £425m takeover offer from Havas Advertising of France. 19-Jul-2001 Innovation Group has acquired MTW, the US supplier of insurance software, for £59m. 19-Jul-2001 Royal & Sun Alliance is to acquire Seguros BBV Probursa, the Mexican insurance company, for £29m. 19-Jul-2001 Cakebread Robey, the London-based builders merchant, has been acquired by Jewson for £7.4m. 19-Jul-2001 Cordiant has acquired International Business Information, the Japanese business communications consultancy, for £7.5m. 18-Jul-2001 Diagonal has acquired Claritas Information Security for up to £1.2m, in order to expand its secure networks division. 18-Jul-2001 William Baird has sold its Baird Corporatewear subsidiary to Rainbow Corporate-wear for £11m, in order to focus on womenswear and sportswear. 18-Jul-2001 Royal Bank of Scotland is to buy the US retail banking business of Pittsburgh-based Mellon Financial for £1.5bn, funded by a £2bn share placing. 18-Jul-2001 Gartmore is to sell its passive equity fund management business to State Street Global Advisors for undisclosed terms, in order to focus on its high margin active business. 18-Jul-2001 BP is to sell two US refineries in North Dakota and Utah to Tesoro Petroleum, in a £480m deal that also includes pipelines, storage and 45 service stations. 18-Jul-2001 Chubb is to acquire A-Link USA and Alarm Processing of Texas for £35m, in order to expand its electronic alarm operations in the US. 18-Jul-2001 Screen is to acquire Pentyre, the Hemel Hempstead-based software developer, for up to £2m, in order to expand its security and communication systems business. 17-Jul-2001 Intelliplus has acquired Airserve, the Sussex-based mobile commerce company, for undisclosed terms. 17-Jul-2001 W&G Baird Group has sold its Textflow digital printing division to management for undisclosed terms. 17-Jul-2001 Newell & Budge, the Edinburgh-based IT services company, is to undergo a £5m management buy-out backed by 3i, and is seeking acquisitions to expand the business throughout the UK. 17-Jul-2001 Ley Rubber, the Liverpool-based manufacturer of rubber stoppers and tubing, has undergone a £1.1m management buy-out and is now planning to double in size and increase exports. 17-Jul-2001 BP is to acquire Veba Oil and the Aral chain of service stations from Eon in exchange for its 25% stake in Ruhrgas, which will make BP the leading petrol retailer in Germany. 17-Jul-2001 BG is to sell its natural gas storage business to Dynegy of the US for £421m, which will involve the transfer of 260 employees and a processing terminal at Easington. 17-Jul-2001 Ashquay, the property company, is to undergo a reverse takeover by Stonemartin Corporate Centres, the provider of serviced offices. 17-Jul-2001 Royal Doulton has sold its Caithness Glass glassware subsidiary in Scotland to Royal Worcester & Spode for £6.1m. 17-Jul-2001 Levy Gee, the accountancy firm, has been acquired by a new company called Numerica for undisclosed terms, and Numerica is now looking to acquire further small professional services firms. 17-Jul-2001 Aberdeen Asset Management is to acquire Ivory & Sime Asset Management from Friends Ivory & Sime for £9.6m. 17-Jul-2001 Ambex Group has acquired SGB Manufacturing, the West Midlands-based manufacturer of scaffolding products, for £3.5m. 16-Jul-2001 Persimmon is planning to sell its Beazer Partnerships social housing and timber construction business to management for £5m. 16-Jul-2001 DCS is to sell its IT outsourcing division to management for £21m, in order to focus its software business on the logistics and automotive markets. 16-Jul-2001 BP is to sell two Burmah Castrol chemical businesses - Foseco in the West Midlands and Chem-Trend in the US - to Cinven for £240m. 13-Jul-2001 Protherics is selling its computer-aided molecular design business to Tularik of the US for £6.7m. 13-Jul-2001 Hunting has sold its Hunting Engineering defence contracting division to ABN Amro and a management team for £42m, and the business will be renamed Insys. 13-Jul-2001 Bonhams & Brooks is planning to merge with Phillips to create a combined fine art auction group that will include Phillips' Bond Street saleroom and regional auction houses. 13-Jul-2001 Regent Inns has acquired Pals Leisure Group and Vered, the operators of Pals bars in Croydon and Ipswich, for £2m. 13-Jul-2001 Hercules Property Services is to acquire Mainguild, the franchised residential auction house of the Winkworth estate agency, for up to £0.5m. 12-Jul-2001 FKI has acquired Dator, the Danish software controls company with annual sales of £4m, in order to expand its Logistex business. 12-Jul-2001 Taylor Nelson Sofres is to acquire Circulo Reider, the Mexican supplier of market information with 250 staff and annual turnover of £9m. 12-Jul-2001 Easby Electronics, the electronics distributor, has undergone a £8m management buy-out. 12-Jul-2001 Crown Sports is to acquire Trainstation, the operator of three health clubs in Chester, Southport and Manchester, for £6.2m, in order to expand its Dragons brand. 12-Jul-2001 Domino Printing Sciences has acquired Alpha Dot, the manufacturer of coding and marking equipment, for £3m. 12-Jul-2001 Borras has acquired T&B, the St Albans-based contractor, for undisclosed terms. 12-Jul-2001 Ensor has sold Clarcon, the Worcester-based manufacturer of building products, to management for £0.6m. 12-Jul-2001 AdVal Group is to acquire Terra Nova Media, the supplier of website design and e-business services with annual turnover of £1.1m. 11-Jul-2001 Aggregate Industries is acquiring Quarrypak, the Derbyshire-based asphalt and aggregates company with 18 staff, for undisclosed terms. 11-Jul-2001 Xtralite, the Blyth-based manufacturer of roof lights, has been bought out of administration by a management team, saving 50 jobs. 11-Jul-2001 Liverpool Victoria has acquired the Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses in a £248m deal. 11-Jul-2001 Enterprise has acquired First Claims Response, the supplier of maintenance services to local authorities and hospital trusts in the North of England, for up to £5.8m. 10-Jul-2001 Deltron Electronics has acquired C&K Components and Euroind of Italy for £5.8m, as part of a strategy to become a leading European supplier of electromechanical components. 10-Jul-2001 Baron Corporation, the Leeds-based software supplier, is to merge with Euro System Projects of Surrey in a £2m deal that will lead to 18 redundancies among the 53 staff. 10-Jul-2001 Royal & Sun Alliance has agreed to buy the property and casualty services arm of collapsed Independent Insurance for almost £3m, securing 300 jobs. 10-Jul-2001 Croma Group, the supplier of surveillance equipment, is to acquire Sonic Communications of Bickenhill, in a £9.5m deal. 10-Jul-2001 Batleys is to acquire Wundpets, the Reading-based pet food wholesaler, from Jokyle Holdings for undisclosed terms. 10-Jul-2001 Aga Foodservice is to acquire Fired Earth, the retailer of tiles and interior furnishings with 55 stores, for £29m. 10-Jul-2001 WPP has acquired The Marketing & Communication Agency, the London-based internal communications consultancy, in order to expand its Brand Union division. 09-Jul-2001 ITE Group has acquired a 75% stake in Extension 21, the organiser of the Harrogate Womenswear Fashion events, for an initial £1.7m. 09-Jul-2001 Avec Aerotool has acquired the ground-support equipment interests of C&F Millier, which will lead to the creation of up to 40 jobs over the next three years. 09-Jul-2001 BP has acquired Cairns of Malaysia for £76m, in order to increase its stake in the Tangguh gas project in Indonesia to 50%. 09-Jul-2001 WJ Watkins has acquired Barradale Farm in Kent, which will create the country's third largest egg producing company. 09-Jul-2001 Rexam is to sell two beverage can plants in Runcorn and France to Schmalbach-Lubeca of Germany for £52m, in order to win approval for the acquisition of American National Can. 09-Jul-2001 ECsoft has bought S17, the Swedish IT services company with 63 staff, from Framfab, in order to strengthen its back-office systems and project management operations in Sweden. 06-Jul-2001 Scipher is to acquire Probot Communications for £0.7m, in order to expand its Wavelength Digital wireless communications business. 06-Jul-2001 Profile Media has acquired Hazleton Publishing, the sports book publisher, for an initial £2.5m. 06-Jul-2001 United Business Media has acquired a 50% stake in the Dutch national news agency's press release distribution division, ANPPS, for £3.9m. 06-Jul-2001 CPP Holdings has acquired Homecare Holdings, the mobile phone insurance subsidiary of Miller Fisher, for undisclosed terms. 06-Jul-2001 Bunzl is to acquire the carrier bag supply business of British Polythene for up to £8.5m. 06-Jul-2001 WH Smith is to sell its distribution business to former managers backed by ABN Amro Private Equity for £215m. 06-Jul-2001 Weir has sold its computer division to Maxima of Cheltenham for undisclosed terms, while three units are being closed with the loss of 335 jobs - Tooling Products in Hampshire, G Perry in Leicester and Strachan & Henshaw in Manchester. 06-Jul-2001 Taylor Woodrow is to sell its Australian housebuilding business to Stockland for £31m, in order to focus on the UK and North America. 06-Jul-2001 Turbo Genset has acquired Intelligent Power Systems, the Gateshead-based designer and manufacturer of power systems, for £1.5m. 05-Jul-2001 Allen & Heath, the Penryn-based manufacturer of audio mixing consoles, has undergone a £9m management buy-out from Harman International Industries. 05-Jul-2001 Britax, the manufacturer of child safety seats and other vehicle and aircraft components, is to undergo a £441m management buy-out backed by Royal Bank Private Equity. 05-Jul-2001 Reed Elsevier is planning to sell the Official Airlines Guide to a management buy-out for a nominal sum. 05-Jul-2001 Marconi is planning to shed a further 4,000 jobs from its worldwide workforce, including 570 at a plant in Poole, and has also announced the sale of its medical systems division to Philips for £780m. 05-Jul-2001 Kingfisher Leisure, the bar and nightclub operator, has accepted a £13m takeover offer from Springwood. 05-Jul-2001 Edinburgh Fund Managers has acquired Portfolio Fund Management from Liberty International for up to £20m. 05-Jul-2001 Hanover International is to buy the Sundridge Park conference and training centre in Kent from PA Consulting for £15m. 05-Jul-2001 Allied Domecq is to buy two Argentine wine producers - Bodegas y Vinedos Graffigna and Vinedos y Bodegas Sainte Sylvie - for about £30m. 05-Jul-2001 CeNes Pharmaceuticals has acquired Management Dynamics Cambridge, a specialist organisational psychology company, and merged it with its own cognition division to create a new business called Cambridge Cognition. 04-Jul-2001 Domestic & General has acquired Inkfish, the operator of call centres in Slough, Redhill and Brighton, for up to £14m. 04-Jul-2001 Iomart has bought Actis, the Glasgow-based internet security company, out of liquidation for undisclosed terms. 04-Jul-2001 Kingfisher is to sell its Superdrug health and beauty stores to Kruidvat of the Netherlands for £310m. 04-Jul-2001 Bank of Ireland is to acquire Willis Financial, the independent financial adviser, for £40m, which will provide its Bristol & West division with a network of 18 offices and 100 consultants. 04-Jul-2001 Powderject Pharmaceuticals has acquired SBL Vaccin, the Swedish vaccines company, for £35m, and is now looking to sell the rights to its needleless syringe. 04-Jul-2001 William Jacks has acquired the assets of Hapstead Engineering, the Sussex-based Volvo Car dealer, for £0.4m. 03-Jul-2001 Wardle Group has expanded its West Midlands travel agency business with the acquisition of two local companies - the Towns Travel chain and Lichfield-based Travelbods. 03-Jul-2001 Eurocall has bought Callcom, the Manchester-based telecoms installation company, out of administration. 03-Jul-2001 Emap has sold its Petersen magazine division in the US to Primedia for £366m, in order to focus on its core activities in the UK and France. 03-Jul-2001 Smiths Group has sold its Eschmann medical equipment business, which employs 230 people in West Sussex and Singapore, to a group of private investors for £11m. 03-Jul-2001 Union has sold its margin share trading and foreign exchange operations to Man Financial for £1.8m. 03-Jul-2001 Inter Link Foods has taken up its longstanding option to buy the William Lusty bakery from Bank of Scotland for £0.4m. 03-Jul-2001 Lovells is to merge with Paris and Brussels-based Simeon & Associes, creating a combined law firm with more than 130 partners in continental Europe. 03-Jul-2001 Hammond Suddards Edge is to merge with Rossotto e Associati, the Italian law firm with 44 lawyers. 03-Jul-2001 LGC has acquired Promochem of Germany for £10m, in order to expand its pharmaceutical testing services in a number of European countries. 03-Jul-2001 Moss Pharmacy has acquired Harry Cockburn, the chain of eight Scottish pharmacies, for undisclosed terms. 02-Jul-2001 Enviros, the environmental consultancy with 250 staff, is to undergo a £17m management buy-out backed by ECI Ventures. 02-Jul-2001 Powell Duffryn is to sell Geesink Norba, the Dutch manufacturer of refuse vehicles, to Oshkosh Truck of the US for £91m, in order to focus on ports and shipping. 02-Jul-2001 Serco is to acquire AEA Technology's technical consulting division for about £75m. 02-Jul-2001 Bentalls is to be acquired by Fenwick for £70m, creating a combined chain of 14 department stores. 29-Jun-2001 Grampian Holdings is to sell its chain of 270 Edinburgh Woollen Mill shops to Ever 1489, a new company formed by Rutland Trust, for £49m. 29-Jun-2001 T Clarke has acquired JJ Cross, the Preston-based electrical and mechanical contractor, for £2m. 29-Jun-2001 Deltron Electronics has acquired Hawnt Electronics, the distributor of electromechanical components, for £6.8m. 29-Jun-2001 Penna Consulting has acquired James Black Partnership, the Belfast-based human resources consultancy, for up to £5.2m. 29-Jun-2001 Anite is to acquire Didgicom, the developer of travel software, for up to £1.8m. 29-Jun-2001 Newmarket Underwriting, the Lloyd's managing agency with 35 staff, has been acquired by Danish Re and has also decided to close its marine underwriting operation. 29-Jun-2001 Serco has acquired Total IT, the IT and project management consultancy, for £1.2m. 28-Jun-2001 Marconi is to merge its Ipsaris telecoms network with Easynet Group in a £330m reverse takeover that will provide Easynet with access to a national broadband network. 28-Jun-2001 Tandem Group has acquired Dawes Cycles, the bicycle manufacturer, for an initial £0.2m, and is now looking to acquire other sports and leisure equipment companies. 27-Jun-2001 WPP is to acquire QCi Assessment, the customer relationship management consultancy with annual sales of £1.8m, in order to expand its OgilvyOne division. 27-Jun-2001 Sopheon is to acquire the Technology and Information Services division of Aventis Research, gaining access to the German market for the supply of software solutions to the life sciences sector. 27-Jun-2001 Towry Law is being acquired by AMP of Australia for £76m, and AMP is planning to expand the business into the UK's largest financial adviser. 27-Jun-2001 Ultraframe is to acquire Four Seasons, the US glazed roofing supplier, for £89m, and is also taking control of its Royal Ultraframe joint venture in Canada in a £1.3m deal with Royal Technologies. 27-Jun-2001 United Norwest Co-op has acquired Barrow Travel for undisclosed terms, in order to expand its United Co-op Travel division into the cruise holiday market. 26-Jun-2001 IMI has sold six non-core industrial valves businesses, including Bailey Birkett, Amal and Marston Bursting Discs in the UK, to Tyco of the US for £55m. 26-Jun-2001 Misys is to acquire Sunquest, the US healthcare systems supplier, for £287m, in order to expand its Medic Computer Systems subsidiary. 26-Jun-2001 WPP has acquired VML, the US integrated marketing services company with 200 staff, for undisclosed terms. 25-Jun-2001 Legal & General is to sell its Fairmont financial services business to Brown Shipley for £35m. 25-Jun-2001 BWD Securities is to acquire Dennis Murphy Campbell for £10m, in order to expand its stockbroking business into the City of London. 25-Jun-2001 National Mutual, the pensions company with 690 staff, has agreed to a £370m takeover offer from GE Capital, and will now seek approval from its members. 25-Jun-2001 Johnson Matthey is planning to acquire Meconic, the Edinburgh-based manufacturer of pharmaceutical chemicals, for £147m. 22-Jun-2001 First Choice has acquired Tourinter, the French holiday operator, for undisclosed terms. 22-Jun-2001 Anite is to acquire Rox Mariehamn, the Finnish IT services company, for up to £0.3m. 22-Jun-2001 Haldane UK, the Glenrothes-based manufacturer of timber handrails, has undergone a management buy-out, securing the future of 40 jobs. 22-Jun-2001 Hanover International is to acquire Acropolis Hotels, which owns the CedarCourt Hotel in Bradford, from Sirdar for £14m, as part of a strategy to expand its Tweed Investments joint venture with Bank of Scotland. 21-Jun-2001 CSS Stellar has acquired GEM, the US consumer marketing consultancy, for up to £21m, in order to expand its sports management business into North America. 21-Jun-2001 Royal Bank of Scotland has acquired the Italian and German motor insurance operations of Allstate of the US for undisclosed terms, as part of a strategy to expand its Direct Line subsidiary into continental Europe. 21-Jun-2001 Charterhouse Development Capital, the venture capital group, has undergone a management buy-out from HSBC for undisclosed terms. 21-Jun-2001 PC Harrington has acquired the slipform operation of RMD Kwikform for undisclosed terms, and the new Aldridge-based business will be known as Slipform International. 21-Jun-2001 Booth Industries is to acquire Jordan Engineering UK and Jordan Fabrications from MacLellan Group for about £4m. 20-Jun-2001 Media Square is to acquire 80-20 Marketing, the Evesham-based marketing consultancy with an annual turnover of about £0.6m. 20-Jun-2001 Four D Rubber has undergone a £4.3m management buy-out backed by Bank of Scotland, and plans to expand its cast latex sheeting business. 20-Jun-2001 Technology for Business has acquired Avenue Legal Systems, the legal software company with offices in Fareham and Manchester, for £3m. 20-Jun-2001 Misys is to acquire DBS Management, the supplier of IT services to the financial adviser sector, for £75m. 20-Jun-2001 KS Biomedix is planning to acquire Avicenna Medica of Canada for £42m, partly funded by a £16m share placing. 20-Jun-2001 Max Spielmann is to be acquired by Bowie Castlebank, the Glasgow-based photo processing group that trades under the Klick Photopoint brand, creating a combined chain of more than 500 outlets. 20-Jun-2001 Royal & Sun Alliance is to sell its Canadian life insurance business to the Maritime Life Assurance Company for £110m. 20-Jun-2001 Artisan has sold three regional contractors - Drivers Construction, Gryphon Estates and Bickerton Construction - to Mea Corporation for £2.8m. 20-Jun-2001 Marshalls has acquired Stancliffe Stone, the natural stone and paving supplier, for £10m. 19-Jun-2001 Scottish & Newcastle is selling 432 managed pubs to Enterprise Inns for £263m and 214 pubs to Noble House Leisure for £97m, and the proceeds will be used to reduce debt. 19-Jun-2001 MG Rover is to acquire Qvale Automotive, the Italian sports car company with 70 staff, for undisclosed terms. 19-Jun-2001 Shiloh is to acquire Hunters Mobility Services, the Sunderland-based supplier of mobility equipment to hospitals, for up to £1.1m. 18-Jun-2001 Presswork Partnerships has acquired KAB Pressings of Wolverhampton from holding company Ricor, to create a combined car parts business with turnover of £10m and a workforce of more than 100. 18-Jun-2001 Stagecoach is selling its Portuguese bus operations to an unnamed company for £14m, as part of a strategy to focus on the UK, US, New Zealand and Hong Kong. 18-Jun-2001 Maplin, the electronics retailer, has undergone a £42m management buy-out backed by Graphite Capital, and there are plans to expand the chain from 59 to 100 stores over the next few years. 18-Jun-2001 WH Smith has acquired Blue Star Consumer Retailing, the operator of 184 book shops in Australia and New Zealand, for £38m. 18-Jun-2001 NewMedia Spark is to acquire GlobalNetFinancial, the online financial services company, for about £9m. 18-Jun-2001 Aerofone, the mobile phone service provider, has been acquired by Stanhope Communications for £20m. 18-Jun-2001 Ciro Citterio, the menswear retailer, has been bought out of administration by Trident Fashions for undisclosed terms, saving 1,100 jobs at 130 stores. 18-Jun-2001 Churchill Insurance is to acquire AMP's general insurance operations in the UK for £80m, which will involve the transfer of about 420 Peterborough-based staff. 18-Jun-2001 Holland & Barrett has acquired Natures Way, the Irish health food retailer with 12 stores, for undisclosed terms. 18-Jun-2001 Discovery Store, the gift retailer, has been bought out of administration by Caudwell Group for undisclosed terms, securing the future of 30 shops and 250 staff. 18-Jun-2001 British Airways has sold its Go low-cost airline business to a management buy-out backed by 3i for up to £110m. 15-Jun-2001 Static, the interactive media company, is being acquired by OpenTV, the US supplier of software for set-top boxes, for £42m. 15-Jun-2001 GT Cheshire & Sons, the Kidderminster-based printing company, has undergone a management buy-out from Great Universal Stores for undisclosed terms, securing the future of 110 jobs. 15-Jun-2001 CGNU is to acquire Fortis Australia from Fortis Group for £111m, in order to expand its general insurance business in Australia. 15-Jun-2001 Premier Farnell is to acquire Buck & Hickman, the industrial product catalogue distributor with 29 UK branches, from Charles Baynes for £65m. 15-Jun-2001 Eliza Tinsley is to acquire ForTeq of Italy for £1.8m, as part of a strategy to expand its off-highway products business in continental Europe. 15-Jun-2001 WR Group has bought Westward Refrigeration Service from Linde Refrigeration of Germany for undisclosed terms, as part of a strategy to provide full refrigeration facilities to retailers throughout the UK. 14-Jun-2001 Precise Communications is to merge with the Unique broadcasting company to create the Unique Communications Group, which will provide a wide range of marketing, broadcasting and corporate communications services. 14-Jun-2001 Kingsbridge Holdings is to acquire Benson McGarvey, the Nottingham-based financial adviser, for £13m. 14-Jun-2001 Aggregate Industries has acquired Blacktop, the North Yorkshire-based asphalt contractor, for undisclosed terms. 14-Jun-2001 Travis Perkins has acquired Lawford & Sons, the London-based builders merchant, for undisclosed terms. 14-Jun-2001 Rexam is selling its MiTek building products business in the US, which manufactures steel connectors for roofing timbers, to Berkshire Hathaway for £275m. 13-Jun-2001 Merant is to sell its Merant Micro Focus software tools business to Golden Gate Capital and Parallax Capital Partners of the US for £45m, in order to focus on e-commerce. 13-Jun-2001 Civilian Content has acquired Isis Productions, the producer of music and children's programmes, from Westpool Investment Trust. 13-Jun-2001 Davis Service is to acquire RentX, the US chain of 74 tool hire shops, for £34m. 13-Jun-2001 Grafton Group has announced the recent acquisition of a further four builders merchants, including GA Day of Portsmouth, BSG of East London, Norman Rhead of Stoke and Hawkesford of Market Drayton. 13-Jun-2001 Mike Beer Transport has bought Tipro, the international bulk tipper operator, from Star Cargo for undisclosed terms, and has also announced plans to consolidate its three UK depots onto a new site at the Dover Port Zone. 12-Jun-2001 Guardian Media Group is to buy the Scot FM radio station from the Wireless Group for £25m, and will rename the business as Real Radio Scotland. 12-Jun-2001 Great Universal Stores has sold Breathe.com, the internet service provider, to Affinity Internet for £1.7m. 12-Jun-2001 Winchester Entertainment is to acquire The Feature Film Company, the film distributor, in exchange for 80,000 new ordinary shares. 12-Jun-2001 Eurocopy has acquired County Business Machines, the Stoke-based supplier of photocopiers and fax machines, for £1.4m. 12-Jun-2001 Business Systems Group has acquired the design business of Atomic Tangerine for up to £6.7m, in order to expand its online solutions division. 12-Jun-2001 OneClickHR has acquired MicroSolve Training, the supplier of computer training services from offices in Manchester and Edgware. 12-Jun-2001 Sealine International, the Kidderminster-based yacht manufacturer, has been acquired by Brunswick Corporation of the US for £48m. 11-Jun-2001 Balfour Convenience Stores has acquired the Clements chain of 15 stores in the Hampshire area, and now plans to add 25 new stores a year to the existing 132. 11-Jun-2001 Gameplay has sold its CentroMail chain of 69 computer games stores in Spain to Electronics Boutique for up to £3.6m. 11-Jun-2001 Peoplesound.com, the online music company, is being acquired by Vitaminic of Italy in a deal worth £21m. 11-Jun-2001 WT Foods, the ethnic foods manufacturer, is to undergo a £79m management buy-out backed by Bridgepoint Capital. 11-Jun-2001 Online Travel Corporation has acquired the assets of Emap Digital Travel for £2.8m. 11-Jun-2001 First Milk has acquired the Aeron Valley cheese company in West Wales from Milk Marque in a deal believed to be worth more than £5m. 08-Jun-2001 Tate & Lyle is hoping to sell its Western Sugar business in the US to the Rocky Mountain Sugar Growers Co-operative, and is also negotiating the sale of its Domino Sugar cane refining operation. 08-Jun-2001 Cadbury Schweppes has confirmed plans for the £419m acquisition of Pernod Ricard's soft drinks operations, which include the Orangina brand. 07-Jun-2001 Longacre Partners is to acquire Lommen, the Swedish corporate finance house, as part of its European expansion programme. 07-Jun-2001 Dixons is to acquire SuperRadio, the Danish chain of out-of-town electrical superstores, and will rebrand the outlets under its El-Giganten name. 07-Jun-2001 Huntleigh Technology is to acquire Joyce Healthcare, the Australian manufacturer of hospital beds, for about £3m. 07-Jun-2001 Barrier Technology, the Manchester-based foil packaging company with 15 staff, has undergone a management buy-out from SNEC of France for undisclosed terms. 06-Jun-2001 Firth Rixson has sold its Chesterfield-based Cromdane Steel & Engineering subsidiary to French-owned International Metal Service for £4.1m. 06-Jun-2001 Sportsworld Media has acquired Uplink Sport 2000 and Uplink Media of New Zealand for £2.5m, in order to expand its sports TV production business. 06-Jun-2001 Transacsys has acquired Trinity Web Consultancy, the software development and integration company, for £0.1m. 06-Jun-2001 Innovation Group is to expand its insurance software business with the £8m acquisition of three companies - IBS, SDS and Reboot. 05-Jun-2001 Daily Mail & General Trust has acquired International Fine Art Expositions of Florida for £13m, in order to expand its exhibitions division in the US. 05-Jun-2001 Telewest is to acquire Rapid Travel Solutions for up to £10m, which will enable it to connect travel agents to its broadband internet network. 05-Jun-2001 Metalrax has acquired the Classic Housewares division of Frederick Cooper for £0.8m, in order to expand its kitchenware products business. 05-Jun-2001 Toad has acquired SC Hill, the manufacturer of Datatool motorcycle alarms, for up to £3m. 05-Jun-2001 Lloyd's Register is planning to acquire MHA Systems for undisclosed terms, as part of a strategy to move into the international rail safety market. 04-Jun-2001 WS Atkins is to acquire ScanRail, the transport consultancy, from the Danish National Railway Agency for £6m. 04-Jun-2001 IMI has acquired 80% of Display Technologies, the US point of purchase manufacturer, for £26m. 04-Jun-2001 United Business Media has acquired Allison-Fisher International, the US automotive information provider, for £32m, and will merge the business with its NOP World market research division. 04-Jun-2001 Cordiant Communications is planning to merge its Scholz & Friends advertising business in Germany with United Visions Entertainment, in order to produce TV programmes that include commercial messages. 04-Jun-2001 Charteris has acquired The Mandelbrot Set, the supplier of e-business solutions, for up to £5m. 04-Jun-2001 French, the Manchester-based textiles company, has sold its Rufflette curtain tape business to Bandex Narrow Textiles of Austria for £7m. 01-Jun-2001 Wolff Olins, the brand consultant, has been acquired by Omnicom, the US-owned advertising agency, for undisclosed terms. 01-Jun-2001 Solitaire Group is to acquire Moss Kaye & Roy Frank, the London-based property management company, for £1m. 01-Jun-2001 Intec Telecom Systems is to acquire Dataphone, the Leicestershire-based provider of telecoms software solutions, for £1.1m. 01-Jun-2001 Melville Craig, the recruitment agency with 260 staff in Scotland, has been acquired by TMP Worldwide, the US owner of the Monster.com jobs website. 31-May-2001 Industrial Cooling Systems, the Hampshire-based supplier of cooling equipment to a wide range of industries, has undergone a £22m management buy-in backed by Lloyds TSB. 31-May-2001 Past Times, the chain of 74 gift shops, has been bought out of administration by Accelerator, an investment group that is planning to create a multi-channel retail business. 31-May-2001 MacLaurin has been acquired by Hatch-Group, a new company backed by Bridgepoint Capital that is planning to create a Europe-wide public relations agency. 31-May-2001 Rolls-Royce is to acquire Intering, the German developer of marine power systems with 30 staff, for undisclosed terms. 31-May-2001 Tribal Group is to acquire Austin Mayhead, the supplier of consulting services to the public sector, for £1m. 31-May-2001 Eason, the Irish bookseller and newsagent, has acquired all 16 NPO outlets in Northern Ireland for undisclosed terms. 30-May-2001 Isoft has acquired the UK and Australian operations of Eclipsys, the US healthcare software solutions company, for £6.1m. 30-May-2001 Management Consulting Group is to acquire Czipin & Partners for an initial £11m, in order to expand its management consultancy business into Austria and Germany. 30-May-2001 Centrica has acquired a 60% stake in Humber Power, the owner of a gas-fired power plant in Stallinborough, in a £52m deal that will see TotalElfFina take the remaining 40%. 30-May-2001 Spudulike is to expand its chain of baked potato fast food outlets with the acquisition of Fat Jackets, FJ Cools and the Serious Sandwich Store for undisclosed terms. 30-May-2001 Carphone Warehouse is to acquire Communications de Mobile Cellulaires, the French telecom services company, for £54m. 30-May-2001 WPP has acquired Communique Public Relations, the Manchester-based public relations company with 35 staff, in order to expand its Burson-Marsteller business. 30-May-2001 IFG Group is to acquire Fair Isle Investments, the Fareham-based corporate pensions company, for £3m. 30-May-2001 Carpetright is to acquire seven retail sites from Carpetworld for £7.2m, in order to expand its presence in the north of England. 30-May-2001 Gemini Genomics is to be acquired by Sequenom, the US gene sequencing company, for £140m. 30-May-2001 GE Capital is to acquire iGroup, the mortgage lender, for £200m, as part of a strategy to expand its European financial services business. 30-May-2001 Whitworths, the dried fruit and nuts company, is being sold by Scotia Haven to a management buy-out backed by Gresham Trust for £15m. 28-May-2001 Longslow Dairy Group has acquired Selecta Foods, the Dorset-based supplier to the catering industry with 32 staff, for undisclosed terms. 28-May-2001 Compass has completed the sale of the Le Meridien chain of hotels to Nomura International for £1.9bn. 28-May-2001 I Feel Good has bought three magazine titles from John Brown Publishing for £6.4m, including Viz, The Fortean Times and Bizarre. 28-May-2001 Drummond, the textiles company, is to be acquired by Chargeurs of France for £4.5m. 28-May-2001 Tomkins has sold its Totectors safety footwear business to UKS Group for £19m. 28-May-2001 WPP is to acquire Finsbury, the public relations company, for an initial payment of about £15m. 25-May-2001 Howle Holdings is to acquire Innotek Precision, the London-based supplier of tools to the metal packaging industry, for £0.4m. 25-May-2001 Bodycote International has acquired Oy Galvano, the Finnish metal treatment company with annual sales of £2.3m. 25-May-2001 Headlam has sold Gordon John Textiles, the Salford Quays-based curtain manufacturer, to management for £2m, while Claremont Fabrics and BS Brown of Glossop have also been sold. 24-May-2001 Sysdrill, the Aberdeen-based software company, has been acquired by Paradigm Geophysical, the worldwide provider of information solutions for the oil and gas industry. 24-May-2001 Wolseley is to acquire Westburne Group, the Canadian supplier of plumbing equipment, for £250m, as part of a strategy to expand its presence in the North American construction industry. 24-May-2001 Aegis is to acquire Demoscopie, the French market research consultancy with annual turnover of £3.5m, and MEMRB Customs Research Worldwide, which has offices in 22 countries. 24-May-2001 BioFocus is to acquire Cambridge Drug Discovery, the drug screening specialist, for £27m, in order to offer a wider range of services to the pharmaceutical industry. 24-May-2001 Vosper Thornycroft is to acquire RTK Marine, the Poole-based boat supplier, for about £4m. 24-May-2001 Barlows, the Chester-based property developer, is to undergo a £37m management buy-out. 23-May-2001 CGNU is to sell its Belgian non-life insurance business to Winterthur of Switzerland for £72m. 23-May-2001 Enterprise Inns is to acquire 439 managed pubs from Morgan Grenfell Private Equity for £262m, and will convert them into tenancies. 23-May-2001 Cardington has bought the Hardy Amies fashion house for undisclosed terms, and plans to market the brand to a younger audience. 23-May-2001 WPP has acquired Springbok Technologies, the Texas-based public relations company with 60 staff, through its Cohn & Wolfe subsidiary in the US. 23-May-2001 Charles Taylor Consulting is to acquire Resolve International, the supplier of insurance underwriting services with offices in London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Brussels and Miami. 23-May-2001 Advantica Technologies has bought US-based Stoner Associates from Severn Trent for £18m, in order to expand its gas pipeline and engineering business in North America. 22-May-2001 IRevolution is planning a reverse takeover of SEP Industrial to gain a stock market listing, and a share issue will raise £10m for the development of its systems integration business. 22-May-2001 Robert Wiseman Dairies has acquired Lordswood Dairy, the southwest-based milk distributor, for £2m, in order to increase the output of its new Droitwich dairy. 22-May-2001 Prodrive is to acquire Tickford for undisclosed terms, in order to create an enlarged automotive design business with 500 staff and turnover of more than £100m. 22-May-2001 Fibernet has acquired ICG Interconnect, the German supplier of computer networks, for £1.8m. 22-May-2001 FKI has acquired Stearns Airport Equipment Company, the US manufacturer of airport baggage systems, for up to £5.2m. 22-May-2001 Collins Stewart is to acquire the private client advisory business of NatWest Stockbrokers for up to £17m. 21-May-2001 Kidde is to acquire Vijay Industries & Projects, the Indian manufacturer of fire equipment, for £2.3m. 21-May-2001 Leeds Group is to sell its Strines textile printing business to Walker Greenbank for up to £2.5m, while Sharps Fabric Printers will be sold to management and its Walsden printing branch will be closed. 18-May-2001 Charles Baynes has acquired Simone Engineering, the US distributor of industrial valves and process control instruments, for about £6m. 18-May-2001 Xpert Systems, the Warrington-based integrated communications and technology services provider with 210 staff, has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms. 17-May-2001 Unipart has acquired National Railway Supplies, the railway equipment supplier with 300 staff, for undisclosed terms. 17-May-2001 Gameplay has sold its UK and Scandinavian mail order computer games business to management for a nominal sum, in order to focus on the distribution of games over the internet. 16-May-2001 Homestyle has acquired Sleepmasters, the bed retailer, for £9.2m, and has also announced plans to refurbish its 200 Harveys outlets at a cost of £17m. 16-May-2001 Parthus is to acquire Chicory Systems, the US mobile technology company, for £29m. 16-May-2001 Time Products, the luxury goods retailer, is to undergo a £80m management buy-out. 16-May-2001 Alstom is to sell its Cegelec electrical contracting division to management for £477m, and further disposals are expected to follow. 16-May-2001 Media Square is expanding its marketing business with the acquisition of Affiliate Agency of Manchester and Tin Can of Worcestershire. 16-May-2001 Dewsbury Civil Engineering has been acquired by Enterprise, the Preston-based support services company, for £5m. 15-May-2001 Hillarys Blinds, the manufacturer of window blinds with about 1,000 staff, has been sold to a management team backed by Close Brothers Private Equity for undisclosed terms. 15-May-2001 Cable & Wireless is to acquire Digital Island, the US internet services group, for £239m. 15-May-2001 Royalblue is planning to sell its HelpDesk and Rostrvm divisions to management, in order to focus on software for the financial services market. 15-May-2001 Innogy has acquired Electrosynthesis Company, the US research group, for £7.7m, in order to expand its Regenesys electricity storage business. 15-May-2001 Abbey National is to acquire Fleming Premier Banking from JP Morgan Chase for £106m, and the business will be integrated with Cater Allen. 15-May-2001 Metal Bulletin is to acquire the US publishing assets of Cahners Business Information Metals Group from Reed Elsevier for £7.6m. 15-May-2001 Chivers Hartley has acquired the assets and business of Stratford-upon-Avon Foods for undisclosed terms. 14-May-2001 Tomkins is to sell its Smith & Wesson gun division to Saf-T-Hammer of the US for £10m. 14-May-2001 Iomart has sold its Madasafish internet service provider business to an unnamed private company for £3m, in order to focus on business services. 14-May-2001 Morgan Sindall has expanded its civil engineering business with the acquisition of Miller Water, Miller Tunnelling and Miller Civils from Miller Group for £20m. 14-May-2001 Heiton Holdings has bought Willis Builders Merchants of Braintree for £1.6m and a 30% stake in Betor Sklady Budowlane of Poland for £1.7m. 14-May-2001 Trace Computers is to acquire Datawise Training & Consultancy Services for £7.3m, in order to expand its software development and consultancy business. 14-May-2001 Cannons is to undergo a £260m management buy-out backed by Royal Bank Private Equity, and is planning to spend £205m opening 65 health and fitness clubs over the next five years. 11-May-2001 Asquith Court Holdings, the Berkhamstead-based operator of nursery and independent day schools, has been acquired by West Private Equity for £66m. 11-May-2001 Rentokil Initial is spending £4.3m on five acquisitions in the UK, France, Germany and South Africa, in order to expand its security and tropical plants business. 11-May-2001 St Helens Glass has been bought by the Latium Group for undisclosed terms, securing the future of 400 jobs. 10-May-2001 Ninth Floor is to acquire Applied Infrastructure Management Services for £3.6m, as part of a strategy to become a provider of services for "intelligent buildings". 10-May-2001 Cinven has acquired the photo finishing business of GrandVision of France, which includes 472 stores and 2,900 staff, for £174m. 10-May-2001 Mastclimbers is to merge with SGB Powerlift to create a combined Glasgow-based business with 50 staff and a fleet of 500 mast climbing work platforms. 10-May-2001 John Mowlem has acquired UK Fastrack, the Kent-based rail training company with 200 staff, for undisclosed terms. 10-May-2001 Trifast is to acquire Special Fasteners Engineering, the Taiwanese manufacturer of industrial fasteners, for about £15m. 10-May-2001 Synstar has sold its Italian computer services division to Gruppo ATR for £0.3m. 10-May-2001 Blick has acquired Alfia Services, the Bristol-based manufacturer of car parking control systems, for up to £5m. 10-May-2001 Cadbury Schweppes is in negotiations to acquire La Casera, the Spanish soft drinks company, for about £60m. 09-May-2001 Simon Group has sold its Simon-Carves engineering division to SembCorp Industries of Singapore for £12m, and some of the proceeds will be invested in its ports and logistics business. 09-May-2001 Vodafone has sold its Tele-ring mobile phone business in Austria to Western Wireless of the US for undisclosed terms. 09-May-2001 Stirling Shipping, the operator of North Sea support vessels, has been acquired by Seacor Smit of the US for £54m. 08-May-2001 Corenso is to acquire the core and tube business of BPB Paperboard's Centacor division, which employs 100 people at factories in Newcastle, Westhoughton and Maidstone. 08-May-2001 Porvair has acquired 2Fi Holdings, the Hampshire-based specialist filtration company, for £7.3m. 08-May-2001 Insinger de Beaufort has acquired English Trust in order to expand its stockbroking and corporate finance business. 08-May-2001 Wolters Kluwer of the Netherlands has sold its London-based Financial Training business to management for about £50m. 08-May-2001 Brake Bros has acquired Szymczak Nadreau and Valette from Carigel for £17m, as part of a strategy to develop a national food distribution network in France. 07-May-2001 PEL, the shopfitter and refurbishment specialist, has undergone a £40m management buy-out backed by Lloyds TSB Development Capital. 07-May-2001 Gyrus is spending about £100m on the acquisition of two US medical equipment companies - Somnus Medical Technologies and the Richards ear, nose and throat business of Smith & Nephew. 07-May-2001 Jermyn Investments, the property company, is to be acquired by Treasury Holdings of Ireland for £100m. 07-May-2001 Royal & Sun Alliance has sold its Swinton insurance broking business to MMA of France for £54m. 04-May-2001 Abbey National has bought International Equipment Management, the Dutch aircraft leasing company, from ING for £26m. 04-May-2001 Cordiant Communications has acquired Bulletin International, the London-based public relations agency, for up to £8.5m. 04-May-2001 Dew Pitchmastic has sold S&J Whitehead, the Oldham-based restoration contractor with a turnover of £4m, to Linford for undisclosed terms. 03-May-2001 White Young Green has acquired town planning practice MVM Planning and Belfast-based civil engineer Barr McCormick in deals worth £2.4m. 03-May-2001 CD Bramall is to buy four Ford dealerships in the Bedford and Milton Keynes area from Polar Motor Company for £1.5m. 03-May-2001 Highbury House Communications has acquired ten trade magazines from Reed Elsevier for £4.8m. 03-May-2001 William Hill has sold its sports spread betting business to IG Group for £1.1m. 03-May-2001 Royal Bank of Scotland is to sell the institutional custody operations of NatWest bank to the Bank of New York for undisclosed terms. 03-May-2001 Pifco, the manufacturer of electrical appliances, is to be acquired by Salton of the US for £50m. 03-May-2001 Finelist has sold Autela and Edmunds Walker to Bulldog Express for about £2m, which will create an enlarged car parts distribution group with 350 staff. 03-May-2001 Forest City Signs, the Timperley-based manufacturer of road signs with 70 staff, has been acquired by Signature of Oldbury in the West Midlands for undisclosed terms. 02-May-2001 Dan Technology has sold Dan Network Solutions, the internet communications company with 40 staff, to a management buy-out for £1m. 02-May-2001 Weeks Group has acquired Irvine Associates, the independent asbestos removal consultancy. 02-May-2001 Sportsworld Media has acquired Elite Sports Properties, the Australian sports marketing group, for up to £14m. 02-May-2001 Kidde is to acquire Fire Protection Services, the supplier of fire extinguishers and alarm systems, for £17m. 02-May-2001 W&G Baird Group has bought Corporate Document Services, the Leeds-based printing and information management company, for £10m. 01-May-2001 Reuters is to acquire five businesses from Bridge Information Systems of the US for £190m, including North American Information Systems, EJV, eBridge, CRB Index and Bridge Trading Technologies. 01-May-2001 CRH has acquired Mount Hope Rock Products of New Jersey for up to £100m, in order to expand its aggregates and asphalt business in the US. 01-May-2001 Doncasters, the engineering group, is being acquired by Royal Bank Private Equity for £181m, and the business will be combined with Ross Catherall of Milton Keynes. 01-May-2001 Huntsworth is expanding its marketing services business with a £14m share placing and the £5.3m acquisition of three companies - Woodside, Stephanie Churchill and PBC Marketing. 01-May-2001 Amvescap is to acquire Pell Rudman, the Boston-based asset management company, for £139m, in order to expand its wealth management business in the US. 30-Apr-2001 Community Hospitals Group is to be acquired by Capio, the Swedish private hospitals company, for £244m. 27-Apr-2001 Clariant has sold AB Vickers, the Burton-based supplier of brewing industry chemicals, to Lallemand of Canada for undisclosed terms. 27-Apr-2001 Greenberg Glass has acquired EG Glass, the Huddersfield-based glazing company with 120 employees, for undisclosed terms. 27-Apr-2001 Begbies Traynor has acquired Huntingdon Moore of Liverpool, in order to move into the Merseyside insolvency and corporate rescue market. 26-Apr-2001 Halifax is negotiating a £27bn merger with Bank of Scotland, which will create the fifth largest bank in the UK and enable Halifax to expand further into current accounts and business banking. 26-Apr-2001 Kazoo3D, the developer of 3D software, is to undergo a reverse takeover by The Zoo Media Corporation in a £6.8m deal. 26-Apr-2001 Phoenix Healthcare Distribution has acquired Tatfords, the Cosham-based pharmaceuticals wholesaler, for £8m. 25-Apr-2001 Gill Airways, the regional airline with nine aircraft, has been bought out of administration by a management team backed by Bank of Scotland. 25-Apr-2001 Alumasc has sold Crosland, the supplier of metal pressings to the automotive industry, to a management buy-in team for £1m. 24-Apr-2001 Hilton is to acquire Scandic, the Swedish operator of 154 hotels, for £612m, and will invest £30m upgrading the hotels. 24-Apr-2001 Enodis is selling its Magnet and CP Hart kitchen and bathroom operations to Nobia of Sweden for £134m. 24-Apr-2001 Mice Group has acquired Grant Leisure, the management and marketing consultancy, for a nominal sum, and will invest £1.5m in the business. 23-Apr-2001 Wessex Taverns has acquired 42nd Street Bars, the chain of eight bars in the north-east, for undisclosed terms. 23-Apr-2001 Freshbake Foods, the manufacturer of savoury pastries and sausages, has been sold by Vlasic Foods of the US to a management buy-out. 23-Apr-2001 J Mould, the demolition and haulage firm, has been acquired by Hanson Recycling for £7.2m. 23-Apr-2001 Butler Group, the IT research consultancy, has undergone a £10m management buy-out and plans to open new offices in continental Europe over the next 12 months. 23-Apr-2001 Aerpac UK, the manufacturer of wind turbine blades, has been bought out of administration by NOI Rotortechnik of Germany, saving 90 jobs. 20-Apr-2001 Old Mutual is planning to acquire Fleming Offshore Banking, the JP Morgan Chase private banking business that operates from Guernsey and the Isle of Man, for £51m. 20-Apr-2001 GKN has announced plans for the £7bn merger of its industrial services division with Brambles of Australia, and is now seeking acquisitions for its automotive and aerospace engineering operations. 20-Apr-2001 Profile Media has bought Marketlink Marketing Communications, the supplier of mail order and internet sales support, for £14m. 20-Apr-2001 Blooms of Bressingham has acquired Jardinerie, the garden centre owner, for £8.5m. 19-Apr-2001 Pendragon has acquired Hornburg, the Los Angeles-based Jaguar and Land Rover dealership, for £9m. 19-Apr-2001 Marshall Specialist Vehicles is planning to sell its Cambridge-based bus manufacturing division to Horizant of Slovakia. 19-Apr-2001 Expansys has acquired 21Store.com, the Wembley-based online retailer, for £0.25m, and is now looking to establish operations in Amsterdam and Rome. 18-Apr-2001 Tenon Group has announced the £59m acquisition of five accountancy businesses in Manchester, London, Edinburgh and the north-east of England. 18-Apr-2001 Aberdeen Asset Management has acquired Celexa, the Swedish property fund management company, for £16m. 18-Apr-2001 Knowledge Management Software is to acquire Raging Software, the US developer of internet software, for £2m. 18-Apr-2001 PricewaterhouseCoopers has acquired Coba, the specialist due diligence company, for about £7m, in order to create a new strategy group with more than 50 consultants. 17-Apr-2001 Benfield Greig is to acquire EW Blanch of the US for £126m, in order to create an international reinsurance brokerage with about 30 offices and 1,700 staff. 17-Apr-2001 Leiths has acquired Joss Aberdeen, the sand and gravel contractor, for undisclosed terms. 17-Apr-2001 Sea Containers has finalised the sale of the port of Newhaven to the French county council of Seine Maritime for £15m, which is expected to lead to investment in new passenger and freight facilities. 13-Apr-2001 CN Group has acquired two more radio stations in the Midlands - Centre FM of Tamworth and The Bear of Stratford-upon-Avon. 13-Apr-2001 Bodycote International is to acquire K-Tec, the US ceramic coatings manufacturer, for £3.7m. 13-Apr-2001 Vosper Thornycroft is to acquire Hospitality Plus, the provider of training services to the hospitality and other service sectors, for £10m. 13-Apr-2001 Ferraris is acquiring Reynolds Medical Group, the manufacturer of heart monitoring equipment, for £14m, funded by a £8.5m share placing. 13-Apr-2001 Robert Brett & Sons is acquiring Virginia-based West Sand & Gravel and Stuarts Draft for undisclosed terms, in order to expand its building materials business in the US. 12-Apr-2001 Camper & Nicholsons, the yachting group, has been acquired by Rodriguez Group of France for up to £14m. 12-Apr-2001 Wilson Connolly is to acquire Wainhomes, the housebuilder, for £132m, in order to strengthen its business in the north-west and the Midlands. 12-Apr-2001 Hamilton Acorn, the Norwich-based paintbrush maker with 140 staff, has been acquired by ANZA of Sweden for undisclosed terms. 12-Apr-2001 Roadferry has bought the Palletline division of Aberdeen-based Sandy Bruce Trucking for £1.6m, which will involve taking on 70 staff and 32 trucks. 12-Apr-2001 Simclar is planning to acquire the cable and printed circuit board-making subsidiary of Medicore of the US for up to £10m. 12-Apr-2001 Selwood has acquired Crowthorne Pump & Plant, in order to expand its nationwide plant and pump hire business. 12-Apr-2001 Highland Spring has acquired The Gleneagles Spring Water Company from Time Group for undisclosed terms. 11-Apr-2001 Dunedin Capital Partners has acquired Group Trust, the investment business of Legal & General, for £32m. 11-Apr-2001 GEI, the packaging machinery company, has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms, securing 600 jobs. 11-Apr-2001 Crown Sports has acquired a further three businesses for £14m, including four health clubs, a health club management company and a 70% stake in a horse racing information business. 11-Apr-2001 Colleagues Group, the Bath-based direct marketing group, has been sold by Moore Corporation of Canada to management for undisclosed terms. 10-Apr-2001 BS Specialist Products has acquired Corden Hardware, the Hucknall-based supplier of security and ironmongery equipment, for about £1m. 10-Apr-2001 PowerGen is to be acquired by Eon of Germany for £9.6bn, which will give Eon greater access to the energy markets in both the UK and US. 10-Apr-2001 Newsquest has acquired Dimbleby Newspapers, the local newspaper publisher, for about £12m. 10-Apr-2001 Macfarlane has agreed to acquire National Packaging from Charles Baynes for £22m, which is expected to lead to savings in distribution and procurement. 10-Apr-2001 Hercules Property Services is spending £15m on three acquisitions, including London-based property consultancy Baker Lorenz, Cadogan Insurance Services and Kounnis Brokers. 09-Apr-2001 Soutron, the database software company, is to merge with Esprit Information Solutions of Coventry, which will increase its Derby-based workforce from 20 to about 30. 09-Apr-2001 Terence Chapman is to sell TCA Synergo, the supplier of broking software, to Automatic Data Processing of the US for £15m, and the proceeds will be invested in its core TCA Consulting business. 09-Apr-2001 Delancey Estates, the property company, is to undergo a £264m management buy-out. 09-Apr-2001 Firth Rixson has sold Bradford-based Osborn Steel Extrusions and Bujon of France to management for £4.2m. 06-Apr-2001 RMC is to acquire Alexander Russell, the quarrying and concrete products group, for about £60m. 06-Apr-2001 Arcadia is to sell the Warehouse, Racing Green, Hawkshead and Principles chains to management, while its Wade Smith Jr children's wear stores will be sold to its founder for £7.5m. 06-Apr-2001 WPP has acquired Glendinning Management Consultants and a 77% stake in French branding agency CB Associes for undisclosed terms. 05-Apr-2001 Compass has sold its 48 Heritage country hotels to a joint venture between Macdonald Hotels and Bank of Scotland for £235m, while 79 Posthouse hotels are being sold to Bass for £810m. 05-Apr-2001 Brighter Pictures, the TV programme producer, has been acquired by Endemol Entertainment of the Netherlands. 05-Apr-2001 YJL is acquiring the contracting and property development business of Allen for £1m, and has also announced plans to change its name to Montpellier Group. 05-Apr-2001 Crown Sports has bought the publishing interests of Information Australia for up to £8m. 05-Apr-2001 ICL has completed the sale of its local government applications software business to Anite for £13m. 05-Apr-2001 Macdonald Hotels has acquired Barratt International Resorts, which includes 11 resort complexes, for £8.5m. 04-Apr-2001 C&B Communications, the London-based publisher of corporate magazines, has undergone a management buy-out from C&B Publishing. 04-Apr-2001 Cordiant is to acquire Gallagher & Kelly, the Irish public relations company, for up to £9.4m. 04-Apr-2001 Braitrim, the supplier of garment handling and packaging systems, has been sold by Mercury Private Equity to Spotless of Australia for £36m. 04-Apr-2001 Reckitt Benckiser has sold its Ireland-based firelighter business to Standard Brands for £29m. 04-Apr-2001 Blue 8 Technologies, the Nottingham-based developer of geographical information systems, has undergone a £3.5m management buy-out from its German parent in a deal backed by Friends Ivory & Sime Private Equity. 03-Apr-2001 Boots has acquired Portland Ceramics, the Manchester-based dental laboratory, for £1.6m, and will invest £0.5m in the laboratory in the first year. 03-Apr-2001 Spectrum Technologies has acquired RtMc, the US manufacturer of laser wiring equipment, for £2.1m. 03-Apr-2001 Kingsbridge is to acquire Stafford Group and The Independent Financial Partnership for £12m, funded by a £19m share placing. 03-Apr-2001 Imperial Tobacco is acquiring a 75% stake in Tobaccor, the second largest cigarette manufacturer in sub-Saharan Africa, from Bollore of France for £179m. 03-Apr-2001 Johnson Service, the dry-cleaning group, has sold its airline servicing business to Aviation & Airport Services for £3.5m. 02-Apr-2001 Environmental Resources Management Group, the environmental consultancy, is to undergo a £200m management buy-out backed by 3i, and is now expected to make up to 10 small acquisitions. 02-Apr-2001 Freshway Foods has acquired Fredericks, the Telford-based sandwich maker. 02-Apr-2001 Hibernia Foods has acquired the chilled and frozen desserts business of La Boheme. 02-Apr-2001 Friesland Coberco Dairy Foods has bought Nutricia Dairy & Drinks UK. 02-Apr-2001 Lex Service has acquired Auto Windscreens for £122m, which will add a fleet of 800 vans to its RAC roadside recovery business. 02-Apr-2001 Innogy has bought Virtutel, the provider of call centre services to Innogy's Npower division, for £3m. 30-Mar-2001 Ascot, the chemical engineering group, has accepted a £305m takeover bid from Dow Chemical of the US, and has also announced the sale of Nationwide Refrigeration Supplies to Wolseley for £22m. 30-Mar-2001 Sage is to acquire Interact, the US supplier of customer relationship management software, for £183m. 29-Mar-2001 Entertainment Rights, the intellectual property rights company, has acquired Link Licensing for £15m. 29-Mar-2001 Galliford Try has acquired Gerald Wood Homes, the builder of luxury houses in the south-west, for £1.2m. 29-Mar-2001 Springboard has acquired Private Capital Exchange, the online corporate finance company, for undisclosed terms. 28-Mar-2001 Autologic is to acquire the Axial car distribution business from Tibbett & Britten for £74m, and has also confirmed plans to buy a stake in Cat, the Renault logistics division. 28-Mar-2001 Credit Suisse First Boston is to sell off DLJ European Private Equity to a new business called Phoenix Equity Partners. 28-Mar-2001 Porvair is to acquire Microfiltrex, the manufacturer of filtration products, from Fairey for £12m. 28-Mar-2001 Inter Link Foods has acquired Nicholas & Harris, the Salisbury-based cake maker, for £3.7m. 27-Mar-2001 Ashtenne is acquiring the property division of Enterprise, the business support services group, for £15m. 27-Mar-2001 World Travel Holdings is acquiring Deckchair, the online travel company, for £9.2m, and is planning to relocate staff from London to its call centre in Cardiff. 27-Mar-2001 Brake Bros has acquired Roach Frozen Foods, the catering wholesale business, from Roach Foods, and will sell its Wicketts bacon slicing and operation to Roach Foods. 26-Mar-2001 Alfred McAlpine has acquired Kennedy, the Manchester-based construction services group, for £52m. 23-Mar-2001 Compass has acquired Milburns, the supplier of catering services at a number of historic sites. 23-Mar-2001 Howard Smith has sold its towage business, which operates 150 vessels from 42 ports in the UK and Australia, to Adsteam Marine in order to focus on the distribution of industrial supplies. 22-Mar-2001 H Fletcher & Son, the Hull-based bakery and meat processing group, has been acquired by a local businessman for undisclosed terms, saving 150 jobs. 22-Mar-2001 Transacsys has acquired Public Access Terminals, the developer of smart card software with 35 employees in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for undisclosed terms, and its GiroVend office at High Wycombe will become the operational head office. 22-Mar-2001 Whitbread has completed the sale of its 3,000 pubs to Morgan Grenfell Private Equity for £1.63bn, and £300m of the proceeds will be used to expand and refurbish its other hotel and leisure operations. 21-Mar-2001 CGNU has acquired Mebit, the Hungarian life insurance company, from ABN Amro for £64m. 21-Mar-2001 First Choice is to acquire Virgin Sun, the package holiday company, for up to £5.9m. 20-Mar-2001 Dairy Crest has acquired Somerset & Wiltshire Dairy, the organic milk group, for £2.5m. 20-Mar-2001 Clyde Blowers, the boiler cleaning specialist, is being split in two in a £80m deal that will see its main Clyde Bergemann Power business being acquired by US private equity firm Saw Mill Capital. 20-Mar-2001 Pindar has sold its Pindar Systems software development division to management for £8m, and up to 80 staff will be moved to a new headquarters building on York Science Park in the summer. 20-Mar-2001 Abbey National is to sell its credit card division to MBNA for £289m, but the cards will continue to carry the Abbey National logo and the bank will receive a commission for every account opened. 20-Mar-2001 Texol Technical Solutions has acquired Prisme Packaging and Klever Cases, the Carnoustie box-making company, for a combined £0.5m. 20-Mar-2001 Financial Training Company, the provider of accountancy training, is to undergo a £50m management buy-out backed by Royal Bank of Scotland. 19-Mar-2001 Queensborough has sold its Leisure Great Britain caravan park business to management for £40m. 19-Mar-2001 Billiton has announced a £20bn merger with BHP of Australia to create the second largest natural resources group in the world. 19-Mar-2001 Expamet International, the manufacturer of metal products, has received a £69m takeover offer from its own management. 19-Mar-2001 SEP Industrial is selling four manufacturing operations to a management buy-out for £4.5m, including Mercia-Centaur of Birmingham, Component Logistics of Ashton-under-Lyme, WH Fluidpower of Ellesmere Port and Diss Fasteners of Norfolk. 16-Mar-2001 Foreign & Colonial Ventures has bought the Sussex-based chain of 23 CSide pubs, clubs and restaurants, for £15m, and plans to expand the business along the South Coast. 16-Mar-2001 Era Group has sold 13 toy shops to Hilco of the US, but the remaining 13 outlets will be closed with the loss of more than 100 jobs. 16-Mar-2001 Novar has acquired Albert Ackermann, the German supplier of cable management devices, for £59m, as part of a strategy to focus on building control systems. 16-Mar-2001 Morris Material Handling, the Loughborough-based lifting equipment company, has undergone a management buy-out from its US parent for undisclosed terms, saving 400 jobs. 15-Mar-2001 BPT, the residential property group, is to be acquired by Grainger Trust in a £477m deal backed by Deutsche Bank. 15-Mar-2001 Exel is to acquire FX Coughlin, the US logistics and freight forwarding group, for up to £227m. 15-Mar-2001 Tomos Watkin has acquired Tavern Wholesaling's Swansea-based drinks distribution business, as part of a £10m expansion plan. 14-Mar-2001 Rentokil Initial has acquired CPS Security, the US security guarding company, for £3.3m. 14-Mar-2001 Aegis has acquired Copernicus, the US marketing consultancy, for up to £11m, and has also announced plans to merge its market research operations into one global network. 14-Mar-2001 Airtours is acquiring World Choice Travel, the hotel reservations website, for up to £6.8m. 14-Mar-2001 Laird has acquired Sash Controls, the US supplier of domestic security products, for £5m. 14-Mar-2001 Albert Fisher has sold its Mondi fruit and vegetable operations in Poland and Belgium to management for £6.7m. 14-Mar-2001 Kingston Communications has acquired Milgo Solutions from Platinum Equity in a £23m deal, as part of a strategy to develop a nationwide communications network. 13-Mar-2001 Chubb has sold its internet security business to Baltimore Technologies for undisclosed terms. 13-Mar-2001 Anglian, the double glazing company, is to undergo a £161m management buy-out with the backing of Alchemy Partners. 13-Mar-2001 Reckitt Benckiser is to acquire Oxy, the South Korean manufacturer of household and personal care products, for £87m. 13-Mar-2001 Prudential is to acquire American General of the US in a £15bn all-share deal, as part of a strategy to create a global financial services group. 13-Mar-2001 Allez France Group, the Sussex-based tour operator, has undergone a management buy-out backed by 3i, and will now be renamed Holiday Places Group. 13-Mar-2001 Spring Group has acquired Hy-phen for £0.6m, in order to use Hy-phen's web-enabled software to expand its online recruitment service. 12-Mar-2001 HTA Industries has been acquired by Contex, the US automotive components company, for £5m, which is expected to lead to 84 new jobs at its Antrim factory. 12-Mar-2001 FKI has acquired Skoda Electrical Machines, the Czech manufacturer of turbogenerators, for £15m. 12-Mar-2001 Smiths Group is to acquire Barringer Technologies, the US manufacturer of equipment to detect drugs and explosives, for £60m. 12-Mar-2001 CRH is planning to acquire Addtek International, the Finnish cement company, for about £260m. 12-Mar-2001 British Airways is set to acquire British Regional Air Lines for £78m, and will combine the business with its Brymon Airways subsidiary. 09-Mar-2001 Mid Kent Holdings, the water group, is to undergo a £106m management buy-out with the backing of German bank WestLB Panmure. 09-Mar-2001 John Wood Group has acquired H&L Accessory, the US gas turbine company, for about £8m, in order to expand its industrial repair business. 08-Mar-2001 Oxford Instruments has sold its Synchrotron Beamlines subsidiary to Danfysik of Denmark, with the transfer of 22 staff. 08-Mar-2001 Rexam is planning to sell its coated films and paper subsidiary to FiberMark of the US for £92m. 08-Mar-2001 Honeycombe Leisure is to acquire the Devonshire Pub Company for £32m, thereby gaining a further 35 managed pubs in Yorkshire and the North West. 08-Mar-2001 Princes Foods has completed the acquisition of Beta Foods, the Chichester-based manufacturer of Shippam's meat spreads with 180 staff, for undisclosed terms. 07-Mar-2001 Geneva Technology, the Cambridge-based telecoms billing software company with 400 staff, has been acquired by Convergys of the US for £354m. 07-Mar-2001 Informa has acquired Eaton Massachusetts Business Trust, the bio-research publisher, for £22m, and will develop a series of conferences for the company's scientific journals. 07-Mar-2001 IAWS is investing £24m in a joint venture with Tim Hortons to set up a new factory in Canada to produce Cuisine de France bakery products. 07-Mar-2001 Arriva has acquired London Pride, the operator of bus tours, for £4.9m. 07-Mar-2001 Compass has bought a 75% stake in HSG, the German catering company, and has an option to buy the remaining 25%. 07-Mar-2001 Clarks is to acquire Elefanten, the German children's shoe manufacturer, for about £23m. 06-Mar-2001 Moorfield, the property company, is to undergo a £69m management buy-out in a deal backed by Bank of Scotland. 06-Mar-2001 Specialist Computer Holdings has acquired Compelsource, the desktop services division of Compel, for up to £18m. 06-Mar-2001 United Business Media has bought Cyperus, the French corporate communications company, for up to £15m. 06-Mar-2001 Belhaven Brewery is to buy 15 pubs in Central Scotland from Maclay Group for £4.5m, and will also acquire the Maclay Wholesalers beer distribution business, which employs 50 staff in Alloa. 05-Mar-2001 Midwich, the Norfolk-based distributor of computer products, has undergone a management buy-out from Electron House in a deal worth about £15m. 05-Mar-2001 Airflow Streamlines has bought T-Mat Engineering, the Loughborough-based supplier of insulation products for machinery and off-road vehicles, for £2m. 05-Mar-2001 Reuters has acquired Diagram, the French financial software company with 230 staff, for £43m. 05-Mar-2001 De La Rue is acquiring ATS Money Systems, the US supplier of currency management systems to the retail sector, for £9.7m. 05-Mar-2001 Drew Scientific is to acquire Danam Electronics, the US manufacturer of laboratory analysers, for £8.3m. 05-Mar-2001 Hyder has sold Phoenix Electrical, the specialist contractor to the construction industry, to a management team. 05-Mar-2001 Pataks has acquired Galtres Food, the Cumbernauld-based producer of ethnic breads, which will increase its annual turnover by about £10m. 05-Mar-2001 Porvair has acquired Engineered Ceramics, the US kiln furniture specialist based in Illinois, for £4m. 02-Mar-2001 Kingsland Wines & Spirits, the Manchester-based import and bottling company with 150 staff, has undergone a £14m management buy-out. 01-Mar-2001 Amvescap is to acquire National Asset Management of Kentucky for £208m, as part of a strategy to expand its fund management operations in the US. 01-Mar-2001 Berkeley is selling the Scottish operations of its Crosby Homes division to Manor Kingdom Developments for £22m. 01-Mar-2001 SPS-AFOS International of Aberdeen has merged with Global Completion Services of the US to create a global leader in the well bore cleanup sector of the oil and gas service market. 01-Mar-2001 Controlled Electronic Management Systems, the Belfast-based electronic security company with a workforce of 50, has been acquired by Sensormatic Electronics Corporation of the US for undisclosed terms. 28-Feb-2001 Simm Engineering has sold Simm Conveyor Services to a management buy-out, which will enable the business to broaden the range of conveyor maintenance services from a new factory in Dinnington. 28-Feb-2001 Innogy is to acquire Yorkshire Power from American Electric Power and Xcel Energy in a £1.84bn deal, which will create the UK's largest electricity retailing group. 28-Feb-2001 Coats Viyella has sold Stott & Smith, the Bolton-based towel maker, to a management buy-out for about £3m, which should secure the future of 165 jobs. 27-Feb-2001 Trafficmaster is to acquire Teletrac, the California-based telematics company, for £21m, in order to expand its traffic information and vehicle tracking services in the US. 27-Feb-2001 Balfour Beatty has acquired the US rail systems business of ABC-NACO for £14m. 27-Feb-2001 Merivale Moore is to acquire Dunsterville Allen, the London-based property investment company, for £21m. 27-Feb-2001 Viridian has sold VCL, its Leeds-based power generation business, to WS Atkins Investments and Royal Bank Leasing, in order to focus on Irish generation and transmission projects. 26-Feb-2001 Church & Co, the upmarket shoe retailer owned by Prada of Italy, has sold its chain of 83 Jones footwear shops to a consortium backed by Burdale Financial for about £17m. 26-Feb-2001 Hunter-Fleming has acquired AEGIS, the pharmaceutical research company spun out of the University of Bristol, for £3m. 26-Feb-2001 Maclay Murray & Spens is planning to merge with Mackay Simon to create a combined Scottish law firm with 57 partners. 23-Feb-2001 Incepta has acquired RED Consultancy, the London-based public relations company, for £12m, and Broad Street Productions, the New York-based producer of corporate videos. 22-Feb-2001 Geze of Chelmsford has bought Universal Door Services, the installation specialist, for undisclosed terms. 22-Feb-2001 Vibroplant has acquired four small plant hire companies for a total of £1m, including businesses in north London, Bath, Derbyshire and Runcorn. 22-Feb-2001 Arriva has sold its MTL Commercial cleaning and security services business, which employs 480 people, to Carlisle Group. 21-Feb-2001 Precision Manufacturing Services has acquired Speedsaws, the Sheffield-based manufacturer of carbon steel saw blades. 21-Feb-2001 French Connection is to buy out its US joint venture partner for £23m, and plans to open 50 new stores in the US over the next three years. 21-Feb-2001 Palgrave Brown has acquired Hill Leigh Timber Products, the Avonmouth-based supplier of wooden roof supports, for undisclosed terms. 21-Feb-2001 TeleWork has acquired Solus, the London-based supplier of staff scheduling software, for £6.7m. 20-Feb-2001 Ulster Weavers Apparel is planning to acquire Moygashel Linens in a £3.3m deal that will result in 80 jobs being lost in Belfast, Armagh, Dungannon and Banbridge. 20-Feb-2001 Xenova is to acquire Cantab Pharmaceuticals, the Cambridge-based vaccines company, for £53m. 20-Feb-2001 National Express has agreed to sell its UK airports business, which includes Bournemouth and East Midlands, to Manchester Airport for £241m. 20-Feb-2001 Unilever has agreed to sell its recently-acquired Bestfoods Baking business in the US to George Weston of Canada for £1bn. 20-Feb-2001 De Vere is selling five Tavern depots to HP Bulmer for £2.5m and 12 depots to Classic Drinks for £7.7m. 20-Feb-2001 Kenwood Appliances, the manufacturer of household electrical products, is being acquired by De Longhi Pinguino of Italy for £46m. 19-Feb-2001 Mitel has sold its Mitel Networks communications division back to its original UK-based founder for £160m. 19-Feb-2001 Xtempus has acquired Talkcast, the media rights business, in a £25m deal. 19-Feb-2001 TDG has acquired TCG, the Dutch supplier of call centre and packaging services, for £22m, in order to expand its European logistics business. 19-Feb-2001 Hazlewood Foods has sold FH Lee, the manufacturer of paper products for supermarkets, to Kruger of Canada. 19-Feb-2001 Grahams Dairies has acquired Country Fresh, the Lothian-based dairy, as part of an ongoing acquisitions programme. 19-Feb-2001 Unilever has acquired Go Organic, the small Scottish producer of organic pasta sauces and soups. 19-Feb-2001 Cellmark Diagnostics, the Abingdon-based DNA testing company, has been bought by Orchid BioSciences of the US for undisclosed terms. 16-Feb-2001 Hartington Conway is to acquire Wolverhampton-based Xtralite Industrial Rooflights to become the country's largest rooflight manufacturer. 16-Feb-2001 Brunel Holdings is selling Dickinson Control Systems to Siemens Holdings for £9m, in order to reduce debt. 16-Feb-2001 Babcock International is to buy the military support services division of Hunting for £61m, while Hunting has announced the £26m acquisition of the US pipe manufacturer Vinson. 16-Feb-2001 Robert Walters is to acquire Dunhill Group, the Australian recruitment consultancy, for up to £13m, and is now looking to expand into Spain, Italy and South Korea. 15-Feb-2001 BAe Systems is to sell its Florida-based flight simulation and training business to CAE for £55m. 15-Feb-2001 Taylor & Francis has acquired the scientific and academic publishing operations of Gordon & Breach for £22m. 15-Feb-2001 Media Square has acquired e.plan, the Birmingham-based digital media and e-business company, for £4m. 14-Feb-2001 Synthetic Dimensions has acquired Probe, the London-based database support and direct marketing services company, for £0.6m. 14-Feb-2001 AL Fuller, the Cambridgeshire-based electrical contractor with 30 staff, has undergone a management buy-out. 14-Feb-2001 First Choice is to acquire 18 American Express outlets from Amex Canada, and will run the business under the Amex franchise. 14-Feb-2001 Premier Farnell is to sell Brooks Technology, the US manufacturer of greases and lubricants, to Fuchs Petrolub of Germany for up to £11m. 14-Feb-2001 L Gardner is to sell its Thomas Walter printed circuit boards business to DDi Corp of the US for £20m. 14-Feb-2001 The Mill, the supplier of visual effects to film studios and advertising agencies, has undergone a £24m management buy-out with the backing of 3i. 13-Feb-2001 Sema, the computer services group, has agreed to a £3.6bn takeover offer from Schlumberger, the US oil services group. 13-Feb-2001 Compass is to acquire the remaining 67% of Selecta Group, the European vending machine operator, for £374m. 13-Feb-2001 Seascope Shipping is to merge with Braemar, the shipbroker, in a £16m deal. 13-Feb-2001 Celltech has sold Armstrong, the supplier of aerosol inhalation products, to Andrx Corporation of the US for £12m. 13-Feb-2001 Britannia Building Society has acquired Platform Home Loans for £55m, in order to move into the market for non-conforming mortgages. 13-Feb-2001 Enterprise has acquired Thomas Bermingham Contractors, the Sheffield-based supplier of gas infrastructure services, for £6.1m. 13-Feb-2001 Webgrove Holdings has bought Excel Timbalex, the manufacturer of moulded automotive components, out of administration for undisclosed terms, saving 250 jobs in Didcot and Bicester. 12-Feb-2001 Datum Solutions, the Nottingham-based supplier of metering services to the electricity industry, has been acquired by Siemens Metering. 12-Feb-2001 Whitehead Mann is to acquire Change Partnership for £4m, in order to expand its range of headhunting and consulting services. 12-Feb-2001 Robert Dyas, the chain of 68 homeware stores, has been sold to management for undisclosed terms. 12-Feb-2001 HIT Entertainment has acquired Lyrick Studios for £190m, in order to become a leading entertainment studio for children's characters in the US. 12-Feb-2001 Chapelthorpe, the fibres and wallcoverings company, has announced plans for a £66m management buy-out. 12-Feb-2001 EVC Christows is planning to acquire Evolution Capital of London for £12m, in order to establish a corporate advisory business. 09-Feb-2001 William Baird is to sell Van Gils, its Dutch men's wear business, to Vilenzo International for £6.9m. 09-Feb-2001 CGNU has sold State Insurance, the New Zealand supplier of personal and commercial insurance, to NRMA of Australia for £125m. 09-Feb-2001 Charterhouse Communications is to acquire HS Publishing, the financial publisher, from Hemmington Scott for up to £5.5m. 09-Feb-2001 Nine West of the US has sold its Shoe Studio footwear retailing business in the UK to a management buy-out. 08-Feb-2001 Mersey Docks & Harbour has agreed to acquire Heysham Port from Sea Containers for £25m, in order to strengthen its position in Irish Sea traffic. 08-Feb-2001 Allied Domecq has announced a £282m takeover bid for Montana Group, the New Zealand winemaker, as part of a strategy to develop its premium wine and spirits brands. 08-Feb-2001 Cobham has acquired Omnipless, the South African antennae designer, for £38m. 08-Feb-2001 Swinton Insurance has acquired Deansgate Insurance Group of Manchester for undisclosed terms, and 25 of the 35 branches will be closed with the staff transferring to Swinton. 08-Feb-2001 Deritend, the electric motor rewind and repair business, is to undergo a management buy-out from French parent company GTIE. 08-Feb-2001 Raytheon has sold its Portsmouth-based Recreational Marine Products division, which supplies electronic on-board systems for recreational boats, to a management team for £73m, and the business will be renamed Raymarine. 07-Feb-2001 Compass is to acquire Morrison Management Specialists, the US contract caterer, for £383m, and has also announced the completion of its demerger from Granada. 07-Feb-2001 Alexander Russell has sold Russell Minerals, its US quarry division, to Ennstone for £2.7m. 07-Feb-2001 First Technology has acquired HITEC, the supplier of strain gauges, for up to £2.9m. 07-Feb-2001 Pace Micro Technology is to acquire Xcom Multimedia Communications, the French supplier of digital TV technology, for up to £40m. 07-Feb-2001 John Lewis is to acquire the UK arm of Buy.com, the online retailer specialising in gifts, electronic goods and office supplies, for undisclosed terms. 06-Feb-2001 Whatman is to acquire HemaSure, the US producer of blood filtration products, for up to £17m. 06-Feb-2001 Pointon York, the pensions management company, has sold its advisory business to Thomson's Group for undisclosed terms. 06-Feb-2001 Halifax has agreed to acquire the assets of Equitable Life, the mutual life insurer, in a £1bn deal. 05-Feb-2001 Friends Provident has sold its individual savings accounts and unit trust business to Friends Ivory & Sime for £129m, and is now planning to demutualise and seek a listing on the London Stock Exchange later this year. 05-Feb-2001 Midlands Co-op is to acquire Chesterfield Co-operative Society, which will add a further seven grocery outlets to its current 127. 05-Feb-2001 Wolseley is selling off its boiler and burner manufacturing operations, which employ 2,000 people in Europe, in order to focus on builders' merchants. 05-Feb-2001 Coats Viyella is to sell the Naylor Jennings dye works at Yeadon near Leeds to a management team for undisclosed terms, saving more than 100 jobs. 02-Feb-2001 Arthur Andersen is to acquire the UK division of Xpedior, the US web consultancy, for undisclosed terms, and the business will be renamed Arthur Andersen Digital Solutions. 02-Feb-2001 Reuters has acquired a 25% stake in Citywire, the online financial publisher, for undisclosed terms. 02-Feb-2001 Ingenta is to acquire CatchWord, the supplier of online publishing services, for £11m. 01-Feb-2001 TD Waterhouse is linking up with Charles Schwab to acquire Aitken Campbell, the Glasgow-based marketmaker, from Abbey National for £60m. 01-Feb-2001 ICI is planning to sell Cheshire-based Eutech Engineering Solutions, which employs 550 people, to Swiss technology firm ABB. 31-Jan-2001 Taylor Nelson Sofres is to acquire MDC Research of Finland for £32m, which will expand its market research business in Scandinavia, Russia and the Baltic states. 31-Jan-2001 Orchestream is to acquire Crosskeys Systems, the Canadian internet software company, for £25m. 31-Jan-2001 European Aviation Group is planning to acquire Minardi, the Italian Formula One motor racing team, for about £11m. 31-Jan-2001 St Ives has acquired Avanti Press and its subsidiary Case-Hoyt for about £30m, in order to expand its printing business in the US. 30-Jan-2001 Thomas Potts is to acquire CCS, the print management company, for £1.6m. 30-Jan-2001 Norlec Engineering, the sheet metal components company with 140 staff, has undergone a management buy-out from Acertec Engineering of Solihull for undisclosed terms. 30-Jan-2001 John Laing is to acquire Hyder Investments for £90m, which includes a portfolio of road projects, a stake in the Docklands Light Railway and the company rebuilding the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall. 30-Jan-2001 FII Group is planning to sell its footwear business to management, leaving the rest of the company as a cash shell. 30-Jan-2001 BPB is to acquire Rawlplug, the manufacturer of wall fixings, from Baxi Group for £27m, and will combine the business with its Artex-Blue Hawk decorative products division. 30-Jan-2001 Nightfreight, the logistics group, is to go private in a £35m management buy-out. 30-Jan-2001 Arena Group has acquired CP Independent Systems, the Heckmondwike-based supplier of office machines and computer systems, for undisclosed terms. 29-Jan-2001 Next has sold Clydesdale Financial Services, its consumer credit business, to a management buy-in backed by Barclays Private Equity for £108m. 29-Jan-2001 Principal Hotels is being acquired by Nomura's Principal Finance Group for £225m, and about £70m will be invested in renovations at the 17 hotels. 29-Jan-2001 Premier Farnell is to sell part of its North American industrial products business to Lawson Products for about £20m. 29-Jan-2001 Bookham Technology has acquired Measurement Microsystems, the Canadian software company, for £32m. 29-Jan-2001 Malvern Tyres, the Midlands distributor and fitter of car tyres and accessories, has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms. 26-Jan-2001 NHP is to buy Highfield Holdings, the operator of nursing homes, having abandoned talks about a reverse takeover with Southern Cross. 26-Jan-2001 Northern Foods is to acquire Lacemont, the Irish company that is building a frozen pizza factory, for £7.4m. 26-Jan-2001 Avebury Taverns has bought the Stanford Pub Company in order to add an additional 67 outlets to its nationwide chain of pubs. 25-Jan-2001 OnMedica is to acquire MediDesk, the supplier of software and online services to the healthcare sector, for £15m. 25-Jan-2001 Chemring is acquiring Alliant Kilgore Flares, the supplier of infra-red decoys to the defence sector, from Alliant Techsystems of the US for £15m. 24-Jan-2001 T Berryman & Sons, the waste glass packaging collector, has been acquired by Reuse Glass of Knottingley, and Berryman will be given the resources to expand its services throughout the country. 23-Jan-2001 Informa is to acquire MCM Group, the US financial information provider, for £30m. 23-Jan-2001 Exel has acquired Werthmann & Koster, the German automotive logistics company, for £14m. 23-Jan-2001 Glynwed is to sell its core pipes division to Etex Group of Belgium for £786m, and also plans to change its name to Aga Foodservice Group and focus on kitchen equipment. 23-Jan-2001 Taylor Woodrow has reached agreement for the £535m acquisition of Bryant to create a new group building 6,000 UK homes a year. 23-Jan-2001 Stagecoach has sold Glasgow Prestwick International Airport to an international consortium led by Infrastructure & Utilities of New Zealand for £33m, and the site will be managed by Omniport. 23-Jan-2001 WILink.com is expanding its financial information business by acquiring Andersson & Nilsson of Sweden and Informed Investors of the US for a total £7m, while its David Conrad garments business is being sold to management for £1.4m. 22-Jan-2001 AstraZeneca has sold its dental anaesthetics business to Dentsply International of the US for £91m. 22-Jan-2001 Macphie is to expand its food ingredients business with the acquisition of Oakwood Foods of Uddingston for undisclosed terms. 19-Jan-2001 HPI, the vehicle information company, has been acquired by IMVA of Hull, and IMVA will relocate its National Mileage Register operations to the HPI offices in Salisbury. 19-Jan-2001 Intec Telecom Systems is to acquire CHA Systems, the US supplier of billing software, for £11m. 18-Jan-2001 Thomson Travel has sold Holiday Cottages Group, the cottage rental company, to Cendant for a sum thought to be about £60m. 18-Jan-2001 Parity has acquired Prime Selection, the IT resources company, for £5.9m. 17-Jan-2001 Coats Viyella has sold four non-core textile businesses for £21m, including Straven knitwear, the Ladybird brand, Ewart Liddell table linen and a number of shirt brands. 17-Jan-2001 Sonoco Capseals, the manufacturer of lining materials for bottle caps, has been sold by Sonoco to Illinois Tool Works for undisclosed terms. 16-Jan-2001 Eurotel Systems has bought Intercom Communications, the Bulwell-based integrated business communications company, and the business and 40 staff will be relocated to a new site in Nottingham. 16-Jan-2001 JBS Industries, the manufacturer of doors and windows, has undergone a £8m management buy-out, and the deal includes five businesses throughout the country employing 570 staff. 16-Jan-2001 Scottish Coal has acquired Miller Mining, the Leeds-based mining contractor, from Miller Group for about £20m. 16-Jan-2001 Invensys has sold Oldham Gas, the French manufacturer of instruments to monitor gas emissions, to a management buy-out for £18m. 16-Jan-2001 Pinsent Curtis is planning to merge with Biddle to create a combined law firm with 518 lawyers. 16-Jan-2001 Milk Group is to acquire Lubborn Cheese of Somerset for £7.5m, as part of a strategy to become a leading supplier of niche dairy products. 15-Jan-2001 Marconi is selling five European telecoms equipment factories, including sites in Coventry and Liverpool, to Jabil Circuit of the US for £260m. 15-Jan-2001 Metal Bulletin is to acquire BCA Publications, the Canadian financial publisher, for £32m. 15-Jan-2001 Brake Bros has acquired three frozen and chilled food companies in south-east France for a total £16m. 12-Jan-2001 IMI has acquired BTG, the Swedish manufacturer of large valves for use in oil and gas plants, for £16m. 12-Jan-2001 McNeill Rigby Travel has acquired Menary Travel to create a combined Belfast-based travel agency with turnover of more than £16m. 12-Jan-2001 Caradon Bathrooms has been sold by HSBC Private Equity to Sanitec of Finland for £82m, creating a new group with about 20% of the UK bathroom ceramics market. 12-Jan-2001 Lidbury is to merge with Mobex UK to create a combined Swindon-based electrical contracting business called LidburyMobex. 12-Jan-2001 Cox Insurance has expanded its network of Argent retail branches with the acquisition of Doncaster-based Bourne Swann for undisclosed terms. 12-Jan-2001 British Midland has sold its ground handling and airport services business to Go-Ahead for £72m. 12-Jan-2001 Edmund Nuttall has bought Finchpalm, the rail signalling company with 250 staff, for undisclosed terms. 11-Jan-2001 Bovis Lend Lease has acquired IRW, the German project management company, for £9m. 11-Jan-2001 IMES has bought Davy Weighting Systems, the industrial processing company, from Kvaerner for undisclosed terms. 10-Jan-2001 Merant is to acquire the enterprise unit of NetObjects of the US for £12m, in order to expand its e-business software operation. 10-Jan-2001 Great Universal Stores has bought Breathe.com, the internet service provider, out of administration for £1.4m, and will save at least 80 of the 140 jobs. 09-Jan-2001 Rentokil Initial has sold Initial Personnel Services, the recruitment business, to a management team backed by Bridgepoint Capital for £23m. 09-Jan-2001 Blue Circle Industries, the cement maker, is to be acquired by Lafarge of France for £3.1bn, which will lead to about 500 job losses at Blue Circle's UK headquarters and at research centres in Greenhithe and France. 09-Jan-2001 Bolton Brady, the industrial doors company, has been acquired by Kone of Finland for £20m. 08-Jan-2001 Hyder Consulting, the civil engineering company, has undergone a £20m management buy-out. 08-Jan-2001 Candover, the private equity investor, is in negotiations to acquire the Picard Surgeles frozen food business from Carrefour of France for £475m. 08-Jan-2001 Screen has acquired a communications systems division from BAe Systems for £1m, which will enable it to supply software to the fire service market. 08-Jan-2001 Mackays, the preserve manufacturer, has acquired Hudson International, the supplier of confectionery and food gifts, for undisclosed terms. 08-Jan-2001 James & Lister Lea is to merge with Bruton Knowles to create a combined Birmingham-based property business with almost 300 staff. 08-Jan-2001 Budgens has acquired Sewards, the chain of four Berkshire supermarkets, and the outlets will be rebranded under the Budgens fascia. 08-Jan-2001 Innovation Group is to acquire Pyramid Acquisition Corp, the US supplier of insurance software, for £14m. 08-Jan-2001 Network Disaster Recovery has undergone a management buy-out, in a £25m deal supported by the private equity division of Close Brothers. 08-Jan-2001 Faccenda has bought Webb's Country Foods for undisclosed terms, to create a combined poultry processing group with turnover of £300m. 05-Jan-2001 Hanson has acquired Davon, the US aggregates and ready-mix concrete maker, for £66m, in order to expand its operations in Ohio. 05-Jan-2001 Creston is to transform itself from a cash shell into a marketing services group by acquiring Marketing Sciences, the market research company, for £8.5m. 05-Jan-2001 Dataflex has acquired Paxdata Networks, the supplier of telecoms equipment, for £1.4m. 04-Jan-2001 Lex Service has sold its powered access division to Lavendon for £3.9m, in order to focus on support services. 04-Jan-2001 ICI has raised £52m from the sale of its UK-based methanol business to Methanex of Canada and the sale of its share in the Phillips-Imperial Petroleum joint venture to Petroplus. 03-Jan-2001 4imprint is to acquire Adventures in Advertising Franchise, the US promotional products distribution network, for £8.5m. 03-Jan-2001 Medical Solutions has acquired Quinoderm, the producer of dermatology products, for £3.7m, and is now seeking further acquisitions. 03-Jan-2001 Rolls-Royce has sold a number of units from its Vickers Turbine Components business to Royal Bank Private Equity for £74m, including operations in Crewe, Sheffield, Isle of Wight, Shrewsbury and the US with a combined workforce of 1,200. 03-Jan-2001 Albright & Wilson, the manufacturer of cleaning fluids, is being sold by Rhodia of France to Huntsman of the US for undisclosed terms, and its Whitehaven plant will be jointly operated by Huntsman and Rhodia's phosphates division. 02-Jan-2001 Spring Group has sold its Spring Skills and Spring Education operations to Protocol Associates for £74m, and the proceeds will be used to expand its IT staffing business. 02-Jan-2001 Cordiant Communications is to acquire MicroArts, the US e-business consultancy, for £32m, in order to strengthen its interactive capabilities and help service online brands. 02-Jan-2001 P&O has sold a 50% stake in Associated Bulk Carriers, which includes a fleet of 22 dry cargo vessels, to Eurotower Holdings for £68m in cash. 02-Jan-2001 CGNU has sold two Canadian operations for a total £133m, with Manulife Financial acquiring Commercial Union Life Holdings and American International Group acquiring Norwich Union Holdings (Canada). 02-Jan-2001 Warner Howard, the distributor of laundry systems, has been acquired by Barclays Private Equity for £57m, and is now looking to expand its sales force and offer other products such as air fresheners and soap dispensers. 02-Jan-2001 Claverham, the supplier of flight controls, has been acquired by United Technologies of the US for undisclosed terms. 02-Jan-2001 Foreign & Colonial, the fund manager, has been acquired by Eureko following the sale of Hypovereinsbank's 90% stake for £414m, and Eureko is planning to create a leading pan-European asset management business under the F&C brand. 02-Jan-2001 Hanson has sold its waste management business to Waste Recycling Group for £185m. 02-Jan-2001 Hilton has agreed to sell its 29 Ladbrokes casinos to Gala for £235m, in order to focus on hotels and betting. 02-Jan-2001 Equitable Life has sold its Permanent Insurance division to Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society for £150m. 02-Jan-2001 Rolls-Royce has sold its UK materials handling operation to Langley Holdings of Sutton-in-Ashfield for undisclosed terms, which should secure the future of 400 jobs. 02-Jan-2001 Norcom, the Inverness-based business services consultancy, has undergone a £2m management buy-out, and is now planning to open new operations in Aberdeen and elsewhere. 02-Jan-2001 Weir has sold its Darchem Engineering business at Stillington to a newly formed company backed by Royal Bank Private Equity, in a £28m deal. 02-Jan-2001 Communisis has sold Waddington's former US healthcare packaging operation to a new company formed by Linsalata Capital Partners for £31m, and the Howitts commercial printing operation to management for £6m. 02-Jan-2001 The information on this page comes from the UK Activity Report. Click here for further details Copyright UK Business Park 1995-2009