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Hammerson is to acquire RT Group Developments, which includes a portfolio of city centre development opportunities previously owned by Railtrack, for £63m. 31-Dec-2002 Michael Gerson, the removals and storage company with warehouses in north London and Daventry, is undergoing a management buy-out backed by Bank of Scotland Corporate Finance. 31-Dec-2002 Whatman is to sell its Whatman HemaSure blood filtration business to Pall Corporation of the US for £3.7m. 24-Dec-2002 Advanced Power Components is to sell its communication components manufacturing business to Bel Fuse of the US for an initial £3.5m. 24-Dec-2002 SMG is planning to sell its SMG Publishing division, which includes three newspapers, 11 magazines and an online advertising business, to Gannett UK for £216m. 24-Dec-2002 Bizspace has acquired Classdon, the operator of four flexible workspace centres in London Colney, Hove, Burgess Hill and Didcot, for £4.3m. 24-Dec-2002 Ulster Television has acquired Lite FM, the Irish radio station operating from Dublin, for £9m. 24-Dec-2002 Bunzl has acquired Thomas McLaughlin, the Irish distributor of catering equipment with annual sales of £14m, in order to expand its outsourcing services business. 24-Dec-2002 Molins has acquired the smoke constituent analytical business of LGC for £1m, and will rename the business Arista Laboratories Europe and occupy LGC's laboratories in Teddington while a new site is established. 24-Dec-2002 British Energy has sold its 82% stake in Bruce Power of Canada to a consortium led by Cameco Corporation for £309m. 24-Dec-2002 Anite Group is to sell its loss-making German IT consulting subsidiary, which employs 130 staff, to a management team for a nominal sum. 23-Dec-2002 Tribal Group has acquired Kingsway Advertising for up to £14m and Action Medical for up to £9m, in order to become one of the country's largest suppliers of recruitment advertising services to the NHS. 23-Dec-2002 Alfred McAlpine has acquired the trade and assets of Inframan, the Cardiff-based infrastructure management company, for £5.2m. 23-Dec-2002 Intelliplus has acquired the internet division of Directional Solutions for £0.4m, in order to expand its web hosting and internet access business. 23-Dec-2002 Lyle & Scott is to merge with Clan Douglas, creating a combined knitwear manufacturing company with 300 staff under the name of Hawick Knitwear. 23-Dec-2002 Eurotunnel has acquired Abbey National March Leasing, the aircraft leasing company, for £345m. 23-Dec-2002 Graphite Capital is to support a £25m management buy-out at Tom Smith, the manufacturer of Christmas crackers. 23-Dec-2002 EQ Group has acquired Quaestor Research & Marketing Strategists of Leeds for £2m. 20-Dec-2002 Eleco is to acquire Consultec, the Swedish supplier of design and estimating software to the construction industry, for £3.8m. 20-Dec-2002 Dixon Motors is to sell its Car Clinics business to BikeNet, the Aim-quoted cash shell, for an initial £3m. 20-Dec-2002 Simon Group is to sell its tank storage business to private equity firm Patron Capital for £64m, in order to focus on ports and logistics. 20-Dec-2002 Arriva is to sell seven Ford dealerships to Hartwell Automotive Group, including sites in Chippenham, Swindon, Halifax, Holmfirth, Huddersfield and two in Nottingham. 20-Dec-2002 Ward Evans Corporate of Leeds has undergone a management buy-out backed by Giles Insurance Brokers, and the two remaining businesses - One Direct Solutions and Ward Evans Financial - are also expected to be sold off. 20-Dec-2002 Vertex Panel Products, the County Durham-based chipboard factory, is planning a management buy-out to secure the future of 180 jobs. 20-Dec-2002 Associated British Foods has sold six flour mills to Archer Daniels Midland for an estimated £70m, including sites in Liverpool, Knottingley, Corby, Tewkesbury, Edinburgh and Castleford. 20-Dec-2002 Udate, the Derby-based internet dating agency with 45 staff, has been acquired by USA Interactive for £96m. 20-Dec-2002 HP Bulmer is to sell its Australian cider operations to Foster's Group for £22m, and has also announced plans to shed a further 200 mainly Hereford-based jobs. 20-Dec-2002 Marylebone Warwick Balfour is to sell its leisure property fund management business to Capital & Regional Properties for £30m. 20-Dec-2002 Numerica has acquired Munro-Greenhalgh, the Manchester-based independent financial adviser, for £1m. 19-Dec-2002 Gresham Trust is backing the acquisition of Crosse & Blackwell's dried sauce and Snack Stop products by Brand Partnership of Leeds for undisclosed terms. 19-Dec-2002 Compass is to sell its 220 Travelodge hotels and 368 Little Chef restaurants to private equity group Permira for £712m. 19-Dec-2002 Provident Financial has acquired Yes Car Credit, the car finance company with 34,000 low-income customers, from Candover for up to £141m. 19-Dec-2002 A-Plant has acquired Avosdrive from Norwest Holst, in order to expand its tool hire business into London. 19-Dec-2002 Warthog has acquired Zed Two, the Manchester-based computer games developer with 21 staff, for up to £1.5m. 18-Dec-2002 Christie Group has acquired Orridge, the retail stocktaking company, for £0.6m. 18-Dec-2002 National Grid Transco has sold its lossmaking 186k telecoms business to Hutchison Whampoa for a nominal sum. 18-Dec-2002 MyTravel has sold its Sunway Travel coach holidays business to a management buy-out backed by 3i for £22m. 18-Dec-2002 Keller has acquired McKinney Drilling, the US-based foundation drilling company, for up to £32m. 18-Dec-2002 Penta Capital is supporting a management buy-in at Out of Town Restaurants, the operator of shopping centre food courts with 1,500 staff. 18-Dec-2002 James Fisher is to acquire Scan Tech, the Norwegian marine services company, for £8.8m, in order to expand its Underwater Engineering Services business in Aberdeen. 17-Dec-2002 Berkeley Berry Birch has acquired Weston Financial Group, the independent financial adviser with 63 consultants and eight branches, for an initial £1.9m. 17-Dec-2002 Dutton Forshaw Group, the operator of 38 car dealerships, has been acquired by Lloyds TSB Asset Finance Division for £49m. 17-Dec-2002 Slimma has acquired the Peter Martin clothing brand from Le Roi for £0.4m. 17-Dec-2002 Arlington Group has acquired Sentinel Business Services Group, the London-based data storage services company operating from a 110,000 sq ft facility in Greenwich. 17-Dec-2002 Burn Stewart Distillers is to be acquired by CL Financial of Trinidad for £49m, and the new group plans to create a global drinks brand from a Scottish headquarters. 17-Dec-2002 Cadbury Schweppes has agreed to acquire Adams, the US chewing gum manufacturer, from Pfizer for £2.7bn. 17-Dec-2002 Associated British Foods has sold its Allied Glass Containers packaging business to a management team backed by Close Brothers Private Equity. 17-Dec-2002 Hytec Information Security, the Oxfordshire-based IT services company, has undergone a management buy-out, securing the future of 25 jobs. 16-Dec-2002 Carmasters and Motor Vehicle Imports are to merge their Bridlington-based car repair businesses under the name of Carmasters, and the new group will have 140 staff. 16-Dec-2002 Pvaxx, the Wiltshire-based developer of a new process to convert waste products into pellets for manufacturing, is to announce a £170m reverse takeover of shell company Worldsec. 16-Dec-2002 Cybit Holdings has acquired Drive-IT Systems, the Swedish vehicle management and car-sharing solutions company. 13-Dec-2002 Frederick Pollard has acquired the UK machine tool assets of Hitachi Seiki of Japan, in a £2.8m rescue deal that saves more than 30 jobs in Surrey. 13-Dec-2002 Diageo is planning to sell its Burger King fast food business to a US private equity consortium headed by Texas Pacific Group for £950m. 13-Dec-2002 Paladin Resources is to acquire a package of North Sea oil and gas assets from BP and Amerada Hess for £97m, partly funded by a £42m share placing, in order to increase production by up to 40%. 13-Dec-2002 Mears Group is to acquire M&T Group, the Southampton-based building maintenance company trading as FWA Southern, for up to £3.5m. 12-Dec-2002 ICI is to sell Nobel Enterprises, the Ayrshire-based manufacturer of industrial coatings with 280 staff, to Inabata of Japan for an estimated £35m. 12-Dec-2002 Advanced Marketing Services has expanded its book distribution business with the acquisition of two London-based companies - Airlift Book Company and HI Marketing. 12-Dec-2002 BP is to sell 494 German petrol stations to PKN Orlen of Poland for £90m, in order to gain regulatory approval for the acquisition of Veba Oil. 12-Dec-2002 RPS Group has acquired Ecoscope Applied Ecologists, the Cambridgeshire-based ecological consultancy with 16 staff, for £2.8m. 11-Dec-2002 Duke Street Capital is to acquire Sporting Index, the sports spread betting company, for £53m. 11-Dec-2002 John Crowley, the road maintenance company with annual turnover of £30m, has been acquired by Volker Wessels Stevin of the Netherlands. 11-Dec-2002 Maxwell Stewart has acquired One Media Communication, the domestic cabling company, for undisclosed terms. 11-Dec-2002 PressTech Controls, the Hemel Hempstead-based controls manufacturer, has been acquired by QuadTech of the US for undisclosed terms. 10-Dec-2002 Centrica is to raise £289m from the sale of the recently-acquired Enbridge water heaters business in Canada to The Consumer's Waterheater Income Fund, and some of the proceeds may be used for further acquisitions in North America. 10-Dec-2002 Delta is to sell its Birmingham-based electrical division, which has 3,400 staff, to Eaton Corporation for £130m. 10-Dec-2002 AuSPeD, the developer of quality monitoring systems, has undergone a reverse takeover by Contemporary Enterprises for an initial £1m. 09-Dec-2002 Televideo has acquired Leeds-based CBF Media in a multi-million pound deal, in order to create a leading regional TV sports production group. 09-Dec-2002 Firth Rixson, the manufacturer of aerospace and automotive components, has accepted a £50m takeover offer from Forgings International, an investment vehicle backed by Carlyle Group. 09-Dec-2002 Crest Nicholson is to sell its Pearce Group construction business to management for £9.2m. 09-Dec-2002 Kidde is to acquire the Norwegian fire protection business of Kongsberg Maritime for £4.8m. 09-Dec-2002 Oasis Healthcare is planning to acquire Dencare, the operator of 36 dental surgeries, for £20m. 06-Dec-2002 Serco has acquired CCM Software Services, the Dublin-based developer of resource allocation systems, for an initial £8.6m. 05-Dec-2002 Smiths Group has sold its Vent-Axia fans and Elkay cables operations to a management team backed by HSBC Private Equity for £125m. 05-Dec-2002 NM Rothschild has sold its asset management business to the Insight Investment division of HBOS for £61m. 05-Dec-2002 Henry Boot is to sell its Henry Boot Management specialist construction business to Hedehjem for £5m. 04-Dec-2002 BPP Holdings has acquired Malpas Flexible Learning, the London-based provider of professional education and HR training, for £5m. 04-Dec-2002 South Lakeland Caravans has acquired Lake District Leisure Pursuits, the operator of three caravan parks in Cumbria, for £16m. 04-Dec-2002 Thomas Potts has sold BP Cook, its Harlow-based screen-printing subsidiary, to a former managing director. 03-Dec-2002 Gyrus has sold its surgical drapes business to Microtek Medical for £2.5m. 03-Dec-2002 Capita Group has acquired Cost Auditing, the London-based provider of legal cost auditing services for the insurance sector, for up to £7.9m. 03-Dec-2002 Vertex has acquired 7C, the call centre operator with 434 staff at sites in Liverpool, Birkenhead, London, Pembroke and India. 03-Dec-2002 Document Express, the Oldham-based office equipment supplier with 40 staff, has undergone a multi-million pound management buy-out. 03-Dec-2002 RM Neilson and Johnstone Binnie-McKenzie have merged to create a combined Glasgow-based quantity surveying business with a staff of 20. 03-Dec-2002 Bullough has sold its Boulter boiler manufacturing business to Buderus Heiztechnik of Germany for £8.5m. 03-Dec-2002 Unilever is to sell Pamol Group, the Malaysian producer of palm oil, to Palmco for £97m. 03-Dec-2002 Babcock International has sold BMH Chronos Richardson, the Nottingham-based weighing and packing group with about 100 staff, to Premier Tech of Canada for a nominal sum. 03-Dec-2002 Holders Technology is to acquire the PCB materials business of Cimatec of Germany for £0.7m. 02-Dec-2002 Hanson has paid £48m for five acquisitions, including Marshalls Flooring of Nottinghamshire, Small Lots bagged building materials of Kettering, the Red Bank soft mud brick factory in Leicestershire and aggregate operations in Spain. 02-Dec-2002 RMR is to acquire Talent Group, the independent TV production company, in a £1.3m reverse takeover. 02-Dec-2002 Durlacher has sold its ShareCast online research service to Digital Look, in order to focus on stockbroking. 02-Dec-2002 Central Press Features, the Bristol-based provider of editorial content to newspapers, has been sold by Northcliffe Newspapers to the Press Association for undisclosed terms. 02-Dec-2002 Ford has sold its Hertz Lease car fleet management business to Societe Generale of France for undisclosed terms. 02-Dec-2002 Medical Solutions is to sell its pharmaceuticals division to Ecolab of the US for £16m and its Cellpath business to Clinicare Products for £1.6m. 29-Nov-2002 Isoft has acquired Revive, the supplier of e-booking systems to the NHS, for an initial £1m. 29-Nov-2002 Vantis has acquired the non-audit business of London-based Crompton & Sherling for up to £0.6m. 29-Nov-2002 Invensys has sold Fasco Motors to Tecumseh Products of the US for £266m, as part of a strategy to focus on product management and energy management. 29-Nov-2002 Computacenter has acquired GE CompuNet, the German IT services company, for an initial £36m. 29-Nov-2002 Xpertise is in negotiations to acquire the Power Education IT training business of Lynx. 28-Nov-2002 Kier has acquired Partnerships First from Belan, in order to create a new social housing division called Kier Partnership Homes with four offices in Dorking, Bristol, Aldridge and Southampton. 28-Nov-2002 WPP has acquired Media Club, the Italian independent media agency with 86 staff. 28-Nov-2002 Connor Group has acquired Surtech Interconnection, the Basingstoke-based electronics manufacturing company, for undisclosed terms. 28-Nov-2002 Aegon UK is to acquire a 60% stake in Positive Solutions, the Newcastle-based financial adviser with 10 business centres, for undisclosed terms. 28-Nov-2002 Spring Grove is to acquire Robert Hawkins, the building maintenance company, from Fairholme Estates for £0.9m. 28-Nov-2002 Scott Wilson has acquired KPL, the construction consultant with 150 staff at offices in Derby and Ashford. 27-Nov-2002 Pubmaster is to acquire Heritage Pub Company, the operator of 55 pubs in the East Midlands, for £19m, taking its total estate to about 3,200. 26-Nov-2002 Bousfield, the supplier of printing equipment, has been acquired by Openshaw of Todmorden, creating a combined group with about 500 staff. 26-Nov-2002 Sky Capital is to acquire Everett Financial, the London-based private client stockbroker, for £1.6m. 26-Nov-2002 Northgate Information Solutions has acquired Prolog, the provider of HR and payroll outsourcing services with 110 staff at offices in Sheffield and Bath, for £4.5m. 26-Nov-2002 Unilever has agreed to sell Iberia Foods, its US food and cleaning products distribution business, to the Brooklyn Bottling Group for undisclosed terms. 25-Nov-2002 AEA Technology is to sell Forensic Alliance, the provider of forensic services to police forces, to a management buy-out backed by Close Brothers Growth Capital for about £5m. 25-Nov-2002 Royal & Sun Alliance is to sell its Securitas subsidiary in Germany to Baloise of Switzerland for up to £58m. 25-Nov-2002 S Black has acquired Universe Ingredients, the food ingredients supplier, and will merge the two businesses at its Hertford head office. 25-Nov-2002 Associated Co-operative Creameries has acquired the Southern Co-op's retail milk business, which includes a dairy in Portsmouth and three distribution sites. 25-Nov-2002 Millfield is planning to expand its financial advisory business with the acquisition of Sureline of Hertford and Contemporary Life of London. 22-Nov-2002 Synigence has acquired HMG Worldwide, the provider of clinical and patient information to pharmaceutical companies, for £3.5m. 22-Nov-2002 Itouch has acquired m4 Group, the provider of mobile phone distribution services, for an initial £1.6m. 22-Nov-2002 GUS has acquired Homebase, the chain of 300 DIY stores, from Permira for £900m, and expects to make annual cost savings of £20m within three years. 22-Nov-2002 Canvas Holidays, the Dunfermline-based camping and mobile home tour operator, is to undergo a £25m management buy-out backed by 3i. 21-Nov-2002 Northern Precision Engineering has acquired Stevens Rowsell, the Hastings-based metal engineering company, for undisclosed terms. 21-Nov-2002 Lind Automotive Group has expanded its East Anglian car dealership business with the acquisition of the Osborne Group, which includes Osborne Garages and Neep BMW in Colchester. 21-Nov-2002 Bodycote International has announced the £8m acquisition of two Italian businesses - materials testing company Centro Triveneto Ricerche and heat treatment company Gamma. 21-Nov-2002 Gordons Cranswick is to merge with Sugden Spencer of Bradford, creating a combined Yorkshire-based law firm with more than 200 staff. 20-Nov-2002 William Sinclair Holdings has sold its SAHC pet products business to management for £6.2m, including 130 staff at sites in Gainsborough and Wickenby. 20-Nov-2002 Ultraframe has sold its Ultraspan commercial glazed enclosure operation to a management team for £0.2m. 19-Nov-2002 Lastminute.com has acquired eXhilaration, the provider of adventure experiences to both individual and corporate customers, for an initial £1m. 19-Nov-2002 World Travel Holdings is to acquire Select Line Holidays and Select Travel International in an all-share deal, in order to expand its LeisureHunt travel promotion business. 19-Nov-2002 Dataform has acquired Print Directive of Dudley for undisclosed terms, increasing its workforce to 115. 19-Nov-2002 Edinburgh Woollen Mill, the chain of 285 knitwear stores with 3,400 staff, is to undergo a £67m management buy-out backed by Bank of Scotland. 19-Nov-2002 Peel Holdings is to acquire Clydeport, the Glasgow-based port operator, for £184m, which will result in Clydeport's management taking over the running of the Manchester Ship Canal. 19-Nov-2002 Logica has acquired Great Lakes Technologies, the US automotive IT solutions company with 220 staff, for £14m. 18-Nov-2002 Montgomery Transport has acquired Dukes Transport, the Portadown-based road haulage company with 460 staff, for undisclosed terms. 18-Nov-2002 Lion Foods, the Runcorn-based company with 185 staff, has been bought out of administration by a management team. 18-Nov-2002 P&O is forming a joint venture with CMA-CGM to acquire an 80% stake in Egis Ports, the French container terminal operator, for about £35m. 18-Nov-2002 Sainsbury has acquired collapsed US retailer Ames, and about 12 of the 18 New England sites will be converted to its Shaw's format. 18-Nov-2002 Centrica has announced the £304m acquisition of Dynegy Storage and Dynegy Onshore Processing, the owner of the Rough offshore gas storage facility in the North Sea and onshore processing facilities at Easington, Yorkshire. 15-Nov-2002 Creston is to acquire EMO Group, the marketing communications company with 57 staff in Swindon and Bristol, for up to £5.7m. 15-Nov-2002 William Baird is to sell Lowe Alpine, its Kendal-based outdoor sportswear business, to Aspen for £13m. 15-Nov-2002 Meggitt has sold Wayfarer Transit Systems of Poole and Systech Solutions of Croydon to a management buy-out for £15m. 15-Nov-2002 Campus Media is to acquire The Get Real Marketing Company, the brand communication company that focuses on students, for up to £1.2m. 15-Nov-2002 NTP has acquired TTC Training of Woking from ABTA, to create a combined workforce training business with 280 staff. 15-Nov-2002 Siemens has sold its electronics manufacturing facility in Nottingham to a management buy-out operating under the name of SMS Electronics for undisclosed terms, and all 200 staff will be retained. 15-Nov-2002 HSBC is to acquire Household International, the US consumer finance company, for £8.6bn. 15-Nov-2002 Prudential is to sell its German life insurance business to Canada Life for £82m. 15-Nov-2002 Park Group has acquired Cheshire Securities, the Stockport-based credit services company, for £1.2m, taking its network of branches to 29. 14-Nov-2002 Skipton Building Society has acquired a majority stake in Private Health Partnership, the Otley-based private health insurance broker, for £3.4m. 14-Nov-2002 Alsford Timber has acquired Flint Timber, the Sussex-based timber merchant, for undisclosed terms. 14-Nov-2002 Penna Consulting has acquired Nethouse Trading and its subsidiary The Resourcing Centre for about £0.5m, in order to expand its recruitment outsourcing business. 13-Nov-2002 Lincat has acquired Britannia Kitchen Ventilation, the Warwickshire-based manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation canopies, for up to £1.4m. 13-Nov-2002 Magnet Harlequin, the Uxbridge-based printing company, has undergone a management buy-out. 12-Nov-2002 Secure Trust Banking is to acquire Old Mutual Securities, the provider of institutional stockbroking and corporate finance services, for up to £12m. 12-Nov-2002 Arla Foods has acquired HT Webb, the speciality cheese supplier, for undisclosed terms. 12-Nov-2002 Fenmarc, the Cambridgeshire-based vegetable processing company with 500 staff, has undergone a management buy-out backed by 3i. 11-Nov-2002 Aggregate Industries has announced the £12m acquisition of five businesses - GFX Hartigan in the Midlands, Border Stone of Powys, Central Coated Stone of Nottinghamshire, Francis Flower and a 50% stake in Sewells Reservoir Construction of Essex. 08-Nov-2002 SIG has acquired Kesteven Roofing Centre, the roofing distributor with 3 branches in Yorkshire and Humberside. 08-Nov-2002 Boston Matthews has acquired Munchy, the manufacturer of extrusion equipment, and production is being relocated from Wallingford to the Boston Matthews site in Worcester. 08-Nov-2002 First Great Western is to merge with Thames Trains and Wessex Trains, creating a new Greater Western rail franchise, as part of the Strategic Rail Authority's plan to have a single operator at each major London station. 08-Nov-2002 John Laing has sold its Holloway White Allom building restoration division to a management team for £5m. 07-Nov-2002 Arrow Group, the Hull-based industrial doors group, has undergone a £5m management buy-out backed by Northern Venture Managers. 07-Nov-2002 Travelcare has acquired 13 Holiday City outlets, taking its total number of branches to 370. 07-Nov-2002 Corus is to acquire Precoat International, the steel pressings company with 250 staff at two Welsh plants in Cardiff and Cross Keys, for £7.2m. 07-Nov-2002 Carphone Warehouse has acquired Opal Telecom, the Warrington-based provider of fixed-line telecom services, for £65m. 07-Nov-2002 Center Parcs, the chain of four holiday villages, is being acquired by Sun Capital Partners in a £465m sale and leaseback deal. 06-Nov-2002 Oasis Healthcare has acquired Ora Dental Group, the operator of ten dental surgeries in London and the south-east, for up to £5m. 06-Nov-2002 Logica and CMG have announced plans for a £510m merger to create a combined IT services business named LogicaCMG, which will lead to the loss of about 1,400 jobs. 06-Nov-2002 Range Cooker, the supplier of upmarket kitchens, has accepted a £22m takeover offer from Britannia Living and Graphite Capital Management. 06-Nov-2002 Building Design Partnership has announced plans to merge with Whicheloe Macfarlane, the architecture and design company with 80 staff at offices in Bristol and Southampton. 06-Nov-2002 RMC Aggregates has acquired FB Gibbons & Sons, the operator of a sand and gravel pit near Peterborough, for undisclosed terms. 06-Nov-2002 Meggitt has acquired Lodge, the supplier of aerospace sensors and transducers with 100 staff at sites in Basingstoke and Rugby, from Smiths Group for £33m. 06-Nov-2002 Dunn-Line has acquired Durham Travel Services for undisclosed terms, securing the future of 70 jobs, in order to expand its coach business further north. 06-Nov-2002 Specsavers has acquired Leicester-based hearing aid chain HearCare for about £2m, which is expected to lead to the creation of 400 jobs and 100 new private hearing aid centres across the country over the next four years. 05-Nov-2002 Clear Channel has sold its Score Outdoor advertising display business, which has 40 staff, to a management buy-out for undisclosed terms. 05-Nov-2002 Opsys, the developer of mobile phone screens, has been acquired by Cambridge Display Technology for undisclosed terms. 05-Nov-2002 Ten Alps Communications has acquired Brook Lapping Productions, the producer of TV documentaries, for £2.4m. 05-Nov-2002 MFI has acquired Sofa Workshop for £12m, and the Sofa Workshop products will be introduced into all 192 MFI furniture stores by the end of 2003. 05-Nov-2002 Centrica has sold British Gas LPG, its liquefied petroleum gas business with 400 staff and 23 depots, to DCC of Ireland for £41m. 05-Nov-2002 Viridian has sold its 50% stake in Nevada tele.com, the provider of telecoms and internet services throughout Ireland, to joint venture partner Energis for a nominal sum. 04-Nov-2002 Headlam Group has acquired Wolff Contract Carpet Mills of County Durham, and the business will be relocated to Headlam's floorcoverings distribution centre in Tamworth. 04-Nov-2002 World Travel Holdings has agreed to acquire the whole of the share capital of LeisureHunt.com, the online hotel booking agency. 01-Nov-2002 Gaming Corporation is to sell its Space 7 software development business to one of its directors for a nominal sum, in order to focus on gaming. 01-Nov-2002 Cranswick has acquired North Wales Foods, the sandwich supplier with net assets of £1m. 31-Oct-2002 SZ Gears, the Risca-based gear-cutting equipment company with 16 staff, has undergone a management buy-out backed by Finance Wales. 31-Oct-2002 Crantock Bakery, the Newquay-based bakery with 77 staff, has undergone a £6m management buy-out backed by Northern Venture Managers. 31-Oct-2002 Palgrave Brown, the Chorley-based timber supplier with 800 staff and 17 sites nationwide, has undergone a £30m management buy-out backed by Aberdeen Murray Johnstone Private Equity. 31-Oct-2002 Tesco is to acquire T&S Stores, the owner of more than 1,000 convenience stores and newsagents, for £520m, and will re-brand 450 outlets with the Express format. 31-Oct-2002 Regent Inns has sold 17 unbranded pubs to Porter Black Holdings for £4.3m. 31-Oct-2002 Field & Lawn Marquees has acquired Black & Edgington, the supplier of marquees and temporary structures, from the Arena events organising group for £0.5m. 30-Oct-2002 Jeffreys Haulage, the Derbyshire-based transport company with 80 staff, has undergone a management buy-out. 30-Oct-2002 Amvescap is to acquire Whitehall Asset Management, the private wealth manager, from the Industrial Bank of Japan for undisclosed terms. 30-Oct-2002 Fieldens is to acquire CamAxys, the Cambridgeshire-based supplier of health and safety management systems, for £1.5m. 30-Oct-2002 CB Print Finishers of Newcastle has been bought out of administration by a management buy-out, and will now be called Hay Binders. 29-Oct-2002 Quantica has acquired Selection Training, the Manchester-based provider of work-based training, for an initial £0.2m. 29-Oct-2002 Hansard Group has acquired Alan Bailey Studios, the public relations company trading as ABS Communications. 29-Oct-2002 Headlam Group has bought GAAS Flooring of Watford and GAAS Flooring Distributors of Cambridge out of administration, and will relocate the operations to its distribution centre in Bedford. 29-Oct-2002 MY Holdings has acquired Gallagher Printers of Waterford, in order to expand its healthcare cartons business in Ireland. 29-Oct-2002 Howard Basford, the vehicle repair company, has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms. 29-Oct-2002 Co-operative Group has acquired the Alldays chain of 600 convenience stores for £131m, and will soon announce plans for a major refurbishment programme. 29-Oct-2002 Aga Foodservice has acquired Bongard, the French bakery equipment manufacturer, from 3i for £34m. 29-Oct-2002 Pennon has acquired Parkwood Holdings, the Sheffield-based landfill, recycling and liquid waste treatment company, for £21m. 28-Oct-2002 Phoenix Equity Partners is backing the acquisition of cosmetic surgery operator Transform by Covenant Healthcare for an estimated £20m. 28-Oct-2002 Lee Longlands is to acquire Vineys, the Abingdon-based furniture retailer, for £2m. 28-Oct-2002 Presswork Partnerships of Wolverhampton has been acquired by the Pressings & Fabrications division of Congleton-based UPF Group for undisclosed terms, saving 130 jobs. 25-Oct-2002 Taylor Ward Taylor, the Exeter-based manufacturer of gifts and home accessories, has acquired R&C Imports, the Manchester-based giftware import and distribution company. 24-Oct-2002 WR Refrigeration, the Leicester-based air-conditioning and refrigeration company with 500 staff, has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms. 24-Oct-2002 Sport Entertainment & Media is to acquire the boxing and events promotion business of Golden Gloves for £2.5m. 24-Oct-2002 Corus is to sell its downstream aluminium operations to Pechiney of France for £540m, including sites in China, Germany, Canada and Belgium. 24-Oct-2002 Hiscox is to acquire Eldon Capital, the fund manager that focuses on investment in the financial sector. 23-Oct-2002 Dunlopillo, the manufacturer of pillows and beds, is to sell its consumer products business to Hilding Anders of Sweden for £12m, and up to 80 jobs will be transferred from Harrogate to Oldham. 23-Oct-2002 Howell Communications is to merge with the Petersen Partnership to create a new South Wales-based public relations and marketing company with 28 staff called Howell Petersen. 22-Oct-2002 Man Group has acquired GNI, the London-based futures broker with more than 500 staff, from Old Mutual for £100m. 22-Oct-2002 BPB has acquired control of Gyproc Benelux, the supplier of plasterboard to the Dutch and Belgian markets, in a £52m deal, and will sell Gyproc's German and Polish operations to Lafarge for £33m. 22-Oct-2002 BOC has acquired Environmental Management Corporation, the US water services company, for £32m. 22-Oct-2002 AEA Technology is to acquire The Engineering Link, the Derby-based train services company with about 200 staff, for £10m. 22-Oct-2002 Egerton Estates, the Cheshire-based luxury homes builder, has been acquired by David McLean Homes for £20m. 21-Oct-2002 John Wood Group has acquired the generator repair division of Sheffield-based Rotary Electrical for up to £1.4m. 21-Oct-2002 IBIS Business Consultants has acquired Computer Solutions, the Leeds-based software company, for undisclosed terms. 21-Oct-2002 S Daniels, the supplier of soups and juices, has accepted a £23m takeover bid from Singapore Food Industries. 21-Oct-2002 United Drug has acquired the UK business of Ventiv Health for £4.8m, in order to expand its Ashfield Healthcare contract pharmaceutical sales outsourcing division. 18-Oct-2002 Elior, the French contract catering company, is to acquire Digby Trout, the operator of restaurants at a number of London venues. 18-Oct-2002 Cattles has acquired the motor finance loan portfolio of Associates Capital for £56m and the Dial4aloan consumer credit business for £15m, funded by a £80m share placing. 18-Oct-2002 SIG has acquired Clydesdale Roofing Supplies, the roofing distributor with nine branches in the north of England, for £2m, taking its network to 105 sites. 18-Oct-2002 BP is to sell its network of 70 service stations and other inland fuels businesses in Cyprus to Hellenic Petroleum of Greece for undisclosed terms. 17-Oct-2002 Biotrace International has acquired Fred Baker Scientific, the Runcorn-based supplier of culture media to the pharmaceutical industry, for £1.5m. 17-Oct-2002 Neal Soils has expanded its land reclamation business with the acquisition of two Cardiff-based companies - Cardiff Demolition and Acorn Environmental - and expects to create 50 new jobs to take the total to 180. 17-Oct-2002 Guinness Peat, the fund management group, has agreed to a reverse takeover by Brunel Holdings, which will involve Brunel demerging its existing engineering operations. 17-Oct-2002 John Laing is to sell its housebuilding division to George Wimpey for £297m, as part of a strategy to focus on private finance initiative projects. 17-Oct-2002 Sygen International has acquired Super Shrimp, the Mexican shrimp breeder, for £2.9m. 17-Oct-2002 Halma is to acquire BEA, the Belgian supplier of automatic door sensors, for £46m. 17-Oct-2002 Crown Sports, the golf and health club operator, has received a £15m takeover offer from a newly-formed company called Bennelong. 17-Oct-2002 Pims Holdings has acquired Jensen Press, the Yeovil-based litho printer, for undisclosed terms. 15-Oct-2002 Buccleuch Printers of Hawick has acquired the former McQueen's printing business at Langlee in Galashiels for undisclosed terms. 15-Oct-2002 Lattice Group has sold its TLG vehicle and plant leasing business to Asset Investment Capital for £95m. 15-Oct-2002 Acal has sold Cisco Distribution, the Dutch supplier of networking products, to Ingram Micro for £1.1m. 15-Oct-2002 Fieldens is to sell its tyre, wheel and all terrain vehicle business to a newly-formed company called Newco (ATV Tyre & Wheel) for up to £0.4m. 15-Oct-2002 Rexam is to acquire Nienburger Glas, the German glass container manufacturer with 1,270 staff, from Interbrew for £68m. 15-Oct-2002 Balfour Beatty has acquired UK-based distribution cable service provider Walgrave Contracting Services and US-based electronic access systems supplier Security International for £8m. 15-Oct-2002 Optical Express has bought Health Clinic, the Newcastle-based owner of Eye Clinic, out of administration for £10m. 15-Oct-2002 Arriva has put its network of 33 car dealerships up for sale, with an estimated value of £55m. 15-Oct-2002 Gamestation, the computer games retailer with 64 stores, has been acquired by Blockbuster UK for undisclosed terms. 15-Oct-2002 UK Land is to raise £2.2m from the sale of Beadgem Properties, its joint venture property business, to Dovedale. 14-Oct-2002 Carbo has acquired Ekamant UK, the distributor of coated abrasives, and will relocate the business from Birkenhead to the Carbo site at Trafford Park, Manchester. 14-Oct-2002 MP Manipulated Tubes, the Aston-based manufacturer of automotive tubes with 55 staff, has undergone a management buy-out. 14-Oct-2002 Ryecroft Glenton and Rainbow Gillespie are to merge to form a combined Newcastle-based accountancy practice with 90 staff and 18 partners. 14-Oct-2002 Robinson, the Chesterfield-based manufacturer of healthcare products, has undergone a £22m management buy-out backed by venture capital group 3i. 14-Oct-2002 Petrofac has bought the Scottish operations of Petroleum Geo Services from its Norwegian parent for £32m, which should secure the future of 2,000 staff in Scotland. 14-Oct-2002 Dipford Group has acquired Redwoods, the business transfer agency with ten regional offices, in a £1.3m deal, and now plans to develop a national network of agents for the sale and purchase of smaller businesses. 14-Oct-2002 CIT Publications, the Exeter-based supplier of market information, has been acquired by PriMetrica of the US. 14-Oct-2002 Elementis is to acquire the US-based chromium operations of Occidental Chemical Corporation for £30m. 11-Oct-2002 Carclo has sold Francis W Birkett & Sons, the non-ferrous castings business, to Westley Group for £2.4m. 10-Oct-2002 Dixons is to acquire UniEuro, the Italian electrical retailer with 88 stores, in a £231m deal. 10-Oct-2002 Park Row has sold its Global Risk Management Services division to Fimalac of France for undisclosed terms, in order to focus on its core financial advisory business. 09-Oct-2002 Air Music & Media is to acquire Hollywood DVD, the home entertainment and music company, for an initial £1.5m. 09-Oct-2002 Associated British Foods is to acquire the Ovaltine malt drink and ten other brands from Novartis of Switzerland for £171m. 09-Oct-2002 PC Harrington has acquired Hewden Tower Cranes from Hewden Stuart for undisclosed terms, and the business will be relocated from Castleford to Sheffield. 09-Oct-2002 Solaglas has acquired Windowcare UK, the operator of a nationwide door and window repair business. 09-Oct-2002 Initial Packaging is to acquire Mopack Systems of Strabane and Holland & Pickering of Heywood, in a £7m deal that will create a new holding company called One Vizion. 08-Oct-2002 Boxfoldia, the carton manufacturer, is to undergo a management buy-out and relocate to smaller premises in Redditch. 08-Oct-2002 Teleca is to acquire Geoworks, the Macclesfield-based software company, for an initial £1.3m. 08-Oct-2002 Invensys has sold Drive Systems, the Littlehampton-based manufacturer of AC inverters and DC drives, to a management buy-out for £94m. 08-Oct-2002 John Wood Group has acquired Thomason Mechanical and Bender Machine for £29m, in order to expand its oil services business in the US. 08-Oct-2002 James Fisher is to acquire Rumic, the operator of a Glasgow-based submarine rescue response team, for up to £4m. 08-Oct-2002 Tadpole Technology is to sell its hardware division to a consortium funded by a Hong Kong-based conglomerate for £7m, in order to focus on web services software. 08-Oct-2002 Sanctuary has acquired Trinifold, the music management and publishing company, for up to £21m. 08-Oct-2002 Bookham Technology is to acquire the fibre optic component operations of Nortel of Canada, and the £71m deal is expected to result in 840 job losses. 08-Oct-2002 Land Securities has acquired Wordie Bon Accord, the property company with net assets of £13m and a stake in the Bon Accord shopping centre in Aberdeen. 07-Oct-2002 Real Affinity is planning to acquire Fox Kalomaski, the direct marketing and sales promotion company, for £1.2m. 07-Oct-2002 Sports Resource Group is to acquire Marketing Activity, the sports marketing agency, for up to £0.8m. 07-Oct-2002 Mole Valley Farmers has acquired 19 SCATS Country stores across the south of England from Southern Counties Agricultural Trading Society. 07-Oct-2002 Littlewoods, the Liverpool-based catalogue retailer with almost 200 stores and 22,000 staff, is to be acquired by the Barclay Brothers in a £750m deal. 07-Oct-2002 Lancashire Dairies has sold its doorstep milk business to Creamline Dairies and its retail contracts business to Longslow Food Group. 07-Oct-2002 British Polythene has sold its automotive protective films packaging business to TVIP Corby. 04-Oct-2002 Victoria has acquired Munster Carpets, the Irish supplier of contract carpeting, for £0.4m, and will transfer the plant to its site in Kidderminster. 03-Oct-2002 Sportech has sold its Pull Tab lottery business to Gamingking for £0.6m. 03-Oct-2002 Integrated Dental Holdings has acquired a further nine dental practices across the country for £3m, gaining 25 surgeries and more than 50,000 patients. 03-Oct-2002 Cardpoint has acquired ATM Express, the cash machine operator trading as Green Machine, for £1.3m. 03-Oct-2002 Oasis Healthcare has acquired two dental practices in Brigg and Trowbridge for £0.6m, taking its total estate to 75 sites. 03-Oct-2002 IMI is to sell its remaining Kirkby-based copper tube business to KM Europa Metal of Germany for £13m. 03-Oct-2002 Travis Perkins has acquired Commercial Ceiling Factors, the Reading-based supplier of ceilings and partitions with 20 distribution centres, for £46m. 03-Oct-2002 Northgate has acquired Target Vehicle Rental, the Banbury-based light commercial vehicle hire business, for £3.4m. 02-Oct-2002 Smiths Group has acquired Heimann Systems, the German manufacturer of x-ray detection systems, from Rheinmetall for £235m. 02-Oct-2002 Senior has sold four expansion joint businesses to KE-Burgmann for £4.3m, and the proceeds will reduce borrowings. 02-Oct-2002 Dean & Bowes, the Huntingdon-based contractor with 85 staff, has been acquired by Propencity for undisclosed terms. 02-Oct-2002 Royal Bank of Scotland has acquired Commonwealth Bancorp of Pennsylvania for £290m, in order to expand its US-based Citizens division. 01-Oct-2002 Uniq is to sell its St Ivel Spreads business, which includes a factory in Knowsley, to Dairy Crest for £86m. 01-Oct-2002 Mentmore has acquired Aardvark Self Storage, the privately-held operator of nine self storage centres, for £30m. 01-Oct-2002 Scottish & Southern Energy is to acquire nine salt caverns at Hornsea in Yorkshire, which are used to store natural gas, from Dynegy for £130m. 01-Oct-2002 MyTravel has sold its Eurosites camping and mobile home business to Holidaybreak for £30m. 01-Oct-2002 Wyndeham Press has sold Riverside Packaging Printers, the Newbury-based packaging company with 50 staff, to Northern Packaging Distributors. 01-Oct-2002 Avery Dennison has sold three labelling converting plants in High Wycombe, Germany and the Netherlands to a group of former managers operating under the name of Sentega. 01-Oct-2002 Minorplanet Systems is to acquire Transport Electrical & Security, the installer of vehicle fleet tracking systems, for £0.2m. 01-Oct-2002 TripleArc has acquired the ControlP software and technology business of Documedia Solutions for about £0.2m. 01-Oct-2002 Tribal Group has acquired Atlas Media, the Yorkshire-based public relations firm, for up to £5.8m. 30-Sep-2002 Zipcom is to acquire Transigent, the data service provider with 3,500 business customers, in a £10m deal. 30-Sep-2002 Hyder Consulting, the engineering design consultancy, is to undergo a reverse takeover by Firth Holdings in a £15m deal. 30-Sep-2002 Invensys has sold Rexnord, its US power transmission components division, to private equity firm Carlyle Group for £575m. 30-Sep-2002 Compass is paying £80m for a 60% stake in Italian catering company Onama. 30-Sep-2002 Alphyra is to sell ITG Payphones (Ireland) to Smart Telecom for £1.4m, in order to focus on the development of its pan-European electronic transaction strategy. 27-Sep-2002 Clearex Plastics, the County Durham-based injection moulding company, has been bought out of administration by Formould for undisclosed terms, saving 23 jobs. 27-Sep-2002 KooGa, the sports goods company, has been bought out of administration by the Kettner Group for £0.6m. 27-Sep-2002 RODS UK, the Tamworth-based manufacturer of automotive oils with ten staff and annual turnover of £1.6m, has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms. 26-Sep-2002 Online Travel Corporation has acquired All-Hotels, the Edinburgh-based online hotel booking company with 25 staff, for £1.4m. 26-Sep-2002 GWR is to acquire the remaining 50% of London News Radio and will then sell the whole business on to Chrysalis for £23m. 26-Sep-2002 Greene King is to sell 37 pubs to Punch Taverns for £6.8m, enabling Punch to strengthen its business in the south-east. 25-Sep-2002 Hovat has acquired Wydata, the Tilbury-based barcode, stationery and digital printer, in a £5m deal. 24-Sep-2002 Johnson Matthey is to buy Synetix, the Billingham-based catalyst manufacturer with 800 staff in several countries, from ICI for £260m. 23-Sep-2002 SCA of Sweden has acquired two UK tissue manufacturers from Benedetti International for £9.4m - Birmingham-based Pendigo and Leeds-based KSS - and is now looking to consolidate its non-household operations at a new mill in Oakenholt, Flintshire. 23-Sep-2002 Bridgeport Machines, the Leicester-based engineering company, has been acquired by American Capital Strategies for £11m, as its former US parent has gone bankrupt. 23-Sep-2002 Akzo Nobel has sold Rosemont Pharmaceuticals, the Leeds-based manufacturer of liquid pharmaceuticals with 120 staff, to Biotechnology General of the US for £64m. 23-Sep-2002 Jessops, the camera retailer, is being bought by Amro Capital from Bridgepoint Capital for £116m, and plans to open 26 stores over the next two years. 23-Sep-2002 Cytomyx is to acquire Cambridge BioScience, the reseller of life science products and services, for an initial £1m. 20-Sep-2002 Misys has acquired Eagleye Solutions, the supplier of compliance software to the asset management industry, for up to £15m. 20-Sep-2002 CSS Stellar has acquired JR Financial Services of London, in order to establish a new business supplying specialist financial services to high net worth individuals. 19-Sep-2002 Granada Learning has acquired The Skills Factory, the Lancashire-based educational software company, for £1.6m. 19-Sep-2002 Alexander Forbes is to acquire Schroder Pensions Group, the provider of pension administration services, for up to £22m, in partnership with Lane Clark & Peacock. 18-Sep-2002 Wesleyan is to acquire the financial services business of the British Medical Association, which provides financial advice and insurance to doctors, for undisclosed terms. 17-Sep-2002 Horncastle Industries, the East Yorkshire-based manufacturer of modular buildings, has undergone a £13m management buy-out backed by Northern Venture Managers. 17-Sep-2002 Aviva is to sell its general insurance business in Pakistan to New Jubilee Insurance, while its 63% stake in the Commercial Union Life Assurance Company of Pakistan is being sold to the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development. 17-Sep-2002 Prudential has acquired Good Morning Investment Trust Management of South Korea for £14m. 17-Sep-2002 Shire Pharmaceuticals is to acquire Atlantic Pharmaceutical Services, the US-based pharmaceuticals manufacturer with 100 staff in Maryland, from Niro for £11m. 16-Sep-2002 Cendant is to acquire Galileo Danmark, the Danish distributor of its airline reservation system, from Maersk data for undisclosed terms. 16-Sep-2002 Peterhouse is planning to acquire First Engineering Holdings, the Glasgow-based rail infrastructure provider, for £65m. 13-Sep-2002 Logica has acquired eGlobal Pacific, the Australian SAP consulting firm, for £2.3m. 13-Sep-2002 Alldaypa has acquired GroupTrade, the London-based office supplies company, for undisclosed terms. 12-Sep-2002 Insure-Shop has acquired Ilkeston-based Williams Financial Services, taking the number of its branches in the Midlands to 19. 11-Sep-2002 European Colour is to sell Tor Coatings, the County Durham-based coatings supplier, to a management buy-out for £13m. 11-Sep-2002 Aggregate Industries has acquired aggregate and ready-mixed concrete assets in the US from Wakefield Materials for £43m, in order to expand its East Coast business. 11-Sep-2002 Alfred McAlpine has acquired Eastern Contracting, the electrical services company, for £13m, in order to strengthen its position in the provision of infrastructure services to the utility sector. 11-Sep-2002 Taylor Woodrow has acquired Journey Homes of Phoenix, Arizona, for £29m, in order to expand its housebuilding operations in the US. 11-Sep-2002 Proactive Sports Group has acquired Fox Sports, the Durham-based sports management company, for up to £1.2m. 10-Sep-2002 Microgen is to acquire Wishstream, the provider of hosted e-billing services, for an initial £0.5m. 10-Sep-2002 Kidde has acquired Ajax Group, the Dutch provider of fire protection products and services, for £12m. 10-Sep-2002 Aga Foodservice has bought HC Troldahl, the Newcastle-based provider of refrigeration and air conditioning services, out of administration for £2.3m. 10-Sep-2002 Taylor & Francis has acquired the publishing business and assets of US-based reference book publisher Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers for up to £3.1m. 10-Sep-2002 Carillion has announced the £9m sale of the hoists, accommodation and general plant operations of Maxxiom, its plant hire joint venture with P&O, to Hewden Stuart. 10-Sep-2002 Alchemy Partners is backing plans for a management buy-out of MMS International, the provider of information on fixed income and foreign exchange markets with more than 100 staff, from Standard & Poor's. 10-Sep-2002 Zurich Financial Services is to sell Gresham, its private equity business with 32 staff, to management for undisclosed terms. 09-Sep-2002 Sage has acquired CPASoftware, the US accountancy software supplier, for £9m. 06-Sep-2002 Granada Learning has acquired Leckie & Leckie Publishers, the Fife-based publishing company, for £1.5m. 06-Sep-2002 Intercare has acquired LCO Sante, the French contract pharmaceuticals manufacturer with 179 staff, for £35m. 06-Sep-2002 Sellotape Company, the manufacturer of adhesive tape with 200 staff, has been sold by Verdoso Investments to Henkel of Germany for undisclosed terms. 06-Sep-2002 Headlam has sold four trading companies in its window coverings business to Hunter Douglas for £12m, including Eclipse Blind Systems of Glasgow, OPM of Sweden, Vertika of Glasgow and O'Hanlon's of Powys. 05-Sep-2002 Weardale Steel, the County Durham-based steel company with 90 staff, has been acquired by Eastwood Industries of Birmingham for undisclosed terms. 05-Sep-2002 Holmes Place has received a £202m merger proposal from Cannons, which would create the UK's largest chain of premium health clubs. 05-Sep-2002 Invicta Leisure is to be acquired by Duke Street Capital for £140m, and the business will be combined with Esporta to create a combined group of 18 racquet clubs and 42 fitness clubs. 05-Sep-2002 Vega Group has sold its Dutch IT and process automation business to a management team for £0.4m. 04-Sep-2002 Connaught has sold Connaught Parking Services, its multi-storey car park refurbishment business, to management for £1m. 04-Sep-2002 Exel is to acquire a number of supply chain management and packaging services operations in the US and UK from Power Packaging, including assets valued at £4.6m. 04-Sep-2002 United Drug has acquired IntraVeno Healthcare and IntraPharma, the distributors of critical care, medical and pharmaceutical products to the healthcare sector, for £8m. 04-Sep-2002 Simons Reeve, the Nottingham-based materials handling equipment manufacturer with 75 staff, has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms. 04-Sep-2002 Alphameric has acquired Crown Management Systems, the supplier of back office software, for £6.3m. 03-Sep-2002 Arcadia has completed the sale of a majority stake in four fashion chains - Warehouse, Racing Green, Hawkshead and Principles - to Rubicon Retail for an initial £6.6m. 03-Sep-2002 Torex has acquired Arciris Holdings, the supplier of electronic point of sale and back office systems with 67 staff, for £3.2m. 02-Sep-2002 WPP has acquired Les Ouvriers du Paradis, the French advertising agency with 33 staff, in order to expand its Red Cell communications network. 02-Sep-2002 Unilever has sold Loders Croklaan, its edible oils business with plants in the Netherlands, Canada, Egypt and the US, to IOI Corporation of Malaysia for £139m. 02-Sep-2002 Brown & Jackson is planning to sell four of its five store chains to majority shareholder Tradegro, in order to focus on its Poundstretcher discount stores. 02-Sep-2002 Tikit Group has acquired Granite & Comfrey, the provider of software systems to law firms, for an initial £0.2m. 29-Aug-2002 Knowledge Management Software is being bought out of administration by a newly-formed company called YPCS 125, in a deal worth up to £1.6m. 29-Aug-2002 BOC has acquired the Polish subsidiary of Praxair for £33m, in order to expand its industrial gases business. 29-Aug-2002 Schofield Lothian, the Hertfordshire-based project management consultancy with more than 200 staff, has been acquired by support services specialist Accord. 29-Aug-2002 ITM has acquired Soil Instruments, the Uckfield-based manufacturer of geotechnical instrumentation. 29-Aug-2002 SJP UK, the St Neots-based board and label company, has been bought out of administration by ScandStick of Sweden. 28-Aug-2002 James Townsend & Sons, the Exeter-based label printer with 90 staff, has undergone a management buy-out backed by NMB-Heller. 28-Aug-2002 Payne Strapping has merged with Samuel Strapping Systems to form MJ Maillis UK, a combined manufacturer of steel and plastic strapping with operations in Nottingham, Hinckley, Kilnhurst and Strood. 28-Aug-2002 Hill & Smith has acquired Mallatite, the Manchester-based manufacturer of street lighting with 105 staff, for £5m. 28-Aug-2002 John Wood Group has acquired Industrial Repair Services, the US electrical generator services company, for £5.9m. 28-Aug-2002 Royal Bank of Scotland has acquired Stewart Ivory Wealth Management for undisclosed terms, in order to expand its Adam & Co private banking business. 27-Aug-2002 Jefferson Smurfit has acquired the Chelmsford-based stationery business of CA Coutts for £2.2m. 27-Aug-2002 CLF Packaging, the Huntingdon-based corrugated cases firm with 35 staff, has undergone a £1m management buy-out, and has also acquired Essex-based competitor Box-Wise for £0.5m. 27-Aug-2002 Duke Street Capital is to support plans for a £55m management buy-out of Thornbury Nursing Services, the Bristol-based healthcare recruitment firm. 26-Aug-2002 Galen has announced the £10m sale of its Interactive Clinical Technologies business to its founder, who also acquired the main clinical trials operation in May. 26-Aug-2002 Countrywide Assured is to acquire a chain of 104 estate agency branches from Friends Provident for £21m, and has also agreed a £275m 15-year deal to sell Friends Provident life policies through its network. 23-Aug-2002 Superdrug, the chain of 700 health and beauty stores, is to merge with the 280-strong Savers chain, following the £848m acquisition of Superdrug's Dutch parent Kruidvat by Hutchison Whampoa. 23-Aug-2002 Itouch is to acquire Telescope UK, the provider of text-message voting services, for £1.9m. 23-Aug-2002 Gaskell has sold Mid-Wales Yarns, its Powys-based yarn-spinning business, to Fred Lawton & Son for a nominal sum, securing the future of 100 jobs. 22-Aug-2002 ICM Computer Group has acquired Assurity for £2.7m, in order to expand its IT assurance strategy business into London. 22-Aug-2002 Grantchester, the property group, has agreed to a £168m management buy-out by a newly-formed company called Dundonald Holdings. 22-Aug-2002 CA Blackwell has acquired CLC Construction, the Essex-based road maintenance company with turnover of £10m, for undisclosed terms. 22-Aug-2002 Incepta has acquired PR Force NV, the Belgian public relations consultancy with 35 staff, for £2.9m. 21-Aug-2002 Baltic Exchange has acquired Strategic Software, the supplier of communications and database software to the shipping industry, for about £1m. 21-Aug-2002 Rok Property Solutions has acquired Llewellyn, the privately-owned construction group with 650 staff at offices in Eastbourne, Brighton, London and Milton Keynes, for £16m. 21-Aug-2002 Wolseley Centers has acquired Brooks Group, the chain of 11 timber merchant branches in the Midlands and north of England. 21-Aug-2002 Whitehead Mann has acquired Summit Leadership Solutions, the US-based provider of senior executive training, for £1.5m. 20-Aug-2002 BWD Securities has acquired Connaught St Michaels, the Luton-based provider of share registration services, as well as CI Registrars and a 50% stake in Melton Registrars, for up to £4.4m. 20-Aug-2002 Online Travel Corporation has acquired Sydney Travel Centre, the Australian travel agency, for £0.3m. 20-Aug-2002 Hyway Printing has been bought out of administration by Montrose Press, with backing from venture capitalist Corval Investments. 20-Aug-2002 Cambrian Training Company, the provider of work-based training services throughout Wales, has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms with backing from Finance Wales. 20-Aug-2002 Johnson Radley, the Leeds-based foundry, has been bought out of administration by a management team, securing the future of 30 jobs. 20-Aug-2002 Teco Information Systems, the Manchester-based computer and telecoms hardware supplier, has undergone a £17m management buy-out from Taiwanese parent Teco International. 20-Aug-2002 Marcmoor Computer Systems has been acquired by ROCC Computers of Brighton for undisclosed terms, and the business will be relocated to a new site in Market Harborough. 20-Aug-2002 Ultra Electronics is to acquire CMC Electronics Military Communications of Canada for £22m. 20-Aug-2002 Invensys has sold its industrial sensors division to Honeywell for £267m, as part of an ongoing strategy to reduce debt. 20-Aug-2002 White Young Green has acquired Cuthbert Associates, the Irish mechanical and electrical consultancy, for up to £2.6m. 20-Aug-2002 Carillion is to acquire the management services business of Citex Professional Services for £12m, which will involve the transfer of about 200 staff. 20-Aug-2002 Four Seasons Health Care has announced plans to acquire Omega Worldwide, the operator of 127 care homes, and Principal Healthcare Finance, the owner of 231 care homes. 20-Aug-2002 Newmark Technology is to acquire Grosvenor Technology, the developer of security systems, for up to £6.8m, and has also announced the acquisition of the remaining 49% of Vema of the Netherlands. 19-Aug-2002 Counterline, the Knowsley-based manufacturer of food display units with turnover of £12m, has undergone a management buy-in. 19-Aug-2002 AWG has acquired Power Services, the Bedfordshire-based electrical contractor with 30 staff, in order to expand its Morrison Utility Services division. 19-Aug-2002 CeNes Pharmaceuticals has sold its ion channel technology development business to Xention Discovery, a new Cambridge-based company backed by venture capitalist MVM, for £0.8m. 16-Aug-2002 Sirdar has acquired William Pownall & Sons, the Lancashire-based manufacturer and distributor of wool carpets, for £5m. 16-Aug-2002 Ferraris Group has acquired Hertford Medical International, the Welwyn Garden City-based provider of cardio-diagnostic services to the clinical trials sector with 34 staff, for up to £2.2m. 16-Aug-2002 Acal has acquired ScanOptic, the German distributor of document imaging and management products, for an initial £1.5m. 15-Aug-2002 Hanbury Davies Containers has acquired the Ipswich port haulage operations of DFDS Transport, with the transfer of 105 staff and 80 vehicles. 15-Aug-2002 RB Farquhar has sold its Scottish housebuilding arm to a management buy-out for £5.3m, creating a new company with 30 staff called Deveron Homes. 15-Aug-2002 Zetters has sold its football pools business to Sportech for £1.4m, in order to focus on spread-betting and financial market-making. 15-Aug-2002 European Motor Holdings has sold Normand Eurotrucks, its remaining Mercedes-Benz business, to DaimlerChrysler UK Retail for £0.8m. 13-Aug-2002 Rexam has completed the sale of two Danish plastic containers businesses - Rexam Holmia and Rexam Closures & Containers - to Polimoon Holding of Denmark for £7.2m. 13-Aug-2002 WPP has acquired Gambit AS, the Norwegian public relations agency with 22 staff, in order to expand its Hill & Knowlton subsidiary. 13-Aug-2002 Squirrel Storage has acquired the storage and archiving business of London-based Project Group Services for undisclosed terms. 13-Aug-2002 Lookers has acquired Elt Brothers, the Birmingham-based Vauxhall car dealership for £0.9m. 13-Aug-2002 Numerica has acquired Chantrey Vellacott DFK's Thames Valley business recovery practice, which is based in Marlow, for £1.1m. 13-Aug-2002 Forth Ports has acquired Grainfax, the Port of Dundee-based company that specialises in the storage, drying and testing of grain. 13-Aug-2002 Ford has sold its Kwik-Fit chain of 2,500 car repair centres to CVC Capital Partners for £330m. 13-Aug-2002 Inchcape is to acquire the Gowrings Ford dealerships in Wokingham and Bracknell for £3.9m. 13-Aug-2002 Scottish Power is to expand its US energy business with the £118m acquisition of Aquila's Katy gas storage facility and four other storage sites in Texas. 09-Aug-2002 Laird has sold its Fullarton computer assembly operation, which includes sites across Scotland, to Simclar of Dunfermline for £30m. 09-Aug-2002 Pland Stainless has acquired Santric, the washroom equipment firm, and the business is expected to be relocated from Havant to Leeds. 09-Aug-2002 Lister Shearing, the Dursley-based manufacturer of sheep shearing equipment, has been acquired by Wahl of the US for undisclosed terms, securing the future of 45 jobs. 09-Aug-2002 Peterhouse has acquired Hemingford Park, the Huntingdon-based shopfitter with 118 staff, for £0.3m. 08-Aug-2002 Wembley has sold its London-based property business to Quintain Estates for £48m, and the proceeds will be invested in its gambling operations. 08-Aug-2002 Smith & Williamson, the accountancy and fund management company, is to merge with stockbroker NCL. 07-Aug-2002 Hartford is to acquire Jamies Bars for £4.8m, creating a combined group with 26 restaurants and bars. 07-Aug-2002 Tribal Group has acquired Yale Data Management Consultants, the provider of IT services, for £9.6m. 07-Aug-2002 Aegis has acquired Sample Surveys, the London-based market research company, for £5.4m. 07-Aug-2002 Centrica has acquired Electricity Direct UK, the supplier of power to 97,000 commercial customers, for £63m. 06-Aug-2002 Charterhouse Development Capital is to acquire Coral Eurobet, which includes 870 betting shops, for £860m. 05-Aug-2002 Alvis is to acquire the Vickers Defence tank manufacturing business from Rolls-Royce for £16m, which will involve the transfer of 1,300 staff at sites in Newcastle, Wolverhampton and South Africa. 05-Aug-2002 Rowan Simmons, the relocation services company, has been acquired by Sirvir of the US for an undisclosed sum thought to be about £7m. 05-Aug-2002 Commodore Group, the operator of ferries to the Channel Islands, has undergone a £150m management buy-out backed by ABN Amro Capital. 05-Aug-2002 Marconi has agreed to sell its Italian defence communications business to Finmeccanica for £390m. 02-Aug-2002 First Choice Holidays is to acquire Porter & Haylett, the owner of the Connoisseur holiday boating business, for £24m. 02-Aug-2002 Taylor Nelson Sofres has acquired Svenska Gallup, the Swedish market research company with 14 staff. 02-Aug-2002 Peterhouse has acquired AMT International, the Bedfordshire-based provider of management training in health and safety, for £1.7m. 02-Aug-2002 South Staffordshire Group has acquired Middleton Maintenance Services, the nationwide supplier of infrastructure maintenance services with 374 staff, for £15m. 02-Aug-2002 Mentmore Abbey has announced that its Iron Mountain Europe records management joint venture has acquired the Data Services business of TDG for £6.5m. 02-Aug-2002 Low & Bonar has sold Spila, its loss-making Italian plastics subsidiary, to Albanova, for a nominal sum. 02-Aug-2002 Associated British Ports is to sell its Amports aviation services business in the US to Macquarie Global Infrastructure Funds for £32m. 02-Aug-2002 Bookham Technology, the optical components company, has sold Measurement Microsystems A-Z, its Canadian research business, to a management buy-out. 02-Aug-2002 Meadowstone has acquired NBS Pennine, the cast stone manufacturer, securing the future of about 200 jobs. 01-Aug-2002 Project Telecom has acquired Ternhill Communications, the Shrewsbury-based mobile communications dealership, for £0.5m. 01-Aug-2002 CSS Stellar has acquired Echo, the Canadian entertainment advertising and marketing agency, for £4.1m. 01-Aug-2002 Multi Group has acquired Westminster Event Hire, the Oxfordshire-based industrial catering equipment hire company, for £0.4m. 31-Jul-2002 Park Group has acquired Cable Cashpoint, the cheque cashing business, and its revolving credit affiliate Cash Reserve, from Dundee-based Robert Cable & Co for £0.7m. 31-Jul-2002 Royal & Sun Alliance is to sell its Bristol-based group risk protection business to Canada Life for £60m, which will involve the transfer of about 200 staff. 30-Jul-2002 SIG has expanded its insulation and roofing products business with the £5.9m acquisition of four companies, adding 16 new trading locations. 30-Jul-2002 Tornado Virtue has acquired Streamway Netcasting, the online corporate communications company with annual turnover of £0.6m. 30-Jul-2002 Connaught is to acquire GasForce, the Chorley-based commercial gas appliance maintenance company with 390 staff, for £22m. 29-Jul-2002 Graphite Capital has acquired a 62% stake in PIFC, the pensions advisory firm, for £17m, in order to benefit from the expected rise in demand for pensions advice as more companies look for alternatives to final salary-type pension schemes. 29-Jul-2002 Alliance & Leicester has sold its credit card business to MBNA of the US for £225m, but will continue to sell cards in an outsourcing arrangement with MBNA. 29-Jul-2002 Prices Patent Candle Company, the operator of 14 candle shops, has been bought out of administration by Cereria Sgarbi of Italy for undisclosed terms, securing the future of 150 jobs. 29-Jul-2002 Watermark Group is to acquire Update International, the Hong Kong-based supplier of customer service items to airlines, for £2.4m. 29-Jul-2002 Music Choice Europe has acquired Multiradio, the distributor of music channels through digital TV, from Orbus for £0.6m. 29-Jul-2002 Boots is to sell Halfords, the chain of 400 car parts and cycle stores, to CVC Capital Partners for up to £427m, which will involve the transfer of all 9,800 staff and the head office in Redditch. 26-Jul-2002 Diageo has agreed to sell its Burger King fast food business to a consortium that includes Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners for about £1.4bn. 26-Jul-2002 Amersham is to acquire Motorola Life Science's pre-arrayed slides business for about £13m, in order to expand its biosciences operation. 26-Jul-2002 Prima Computers, the Nottingham-based IT services company with 40 staff, has undergone a management buy-out. 26-Jul-2002 East Surrey Holdings has sold The Classic Water Company, its bottled water supply business with 31 staff in Surrey and Essex, to Culligan International for £3.3m. 25-Jul-2002 Advanced Rendering Technology, the Cambridge-based developer of animation software, has been bought out of administration by one of its co-founders, and the company will now be known as ART VPS. 24-Jul-2002 Greencore has sold Pann Krisp, the Wrexham-based chilled foods manufacturer with 400 staff, to a management buy-in. 24-Jul-2002 Balaclava Pub Company has acquired the Hobgoblin group of pubs, taking its chain to 54. 24-Jul-2002 Spirent is to acquire Caw Networks, the US provider of network testing services, for up to £39m. 23-Jul-2002 Cape is to sell Cape Calsil, the manufacturer of passive fire protection and insulation products, to Promat Glasgow for £9.2m, which will involve the transfer of staff at sites in Glasgow, Caerphilly, Uxbridge, Washington and Wellingborough. 23-Jul-2002 Glanbia is to sell its UK foodservice distribution business to Peter's Food Service for undisclosed terms, which will involve the transfer of 500 staff at a central facility in Tamworth and eight regional depots. 23-Jul-2002 Wheatley Packaging, the flexible packaging printer with 140 staff, has been acquired by Frantschach Group, the Austrian printer. 23-Jul-2002 HgCapital is supporting a management buy-out of Castlebeck Care, the Darlington-based specialist care provider with 358 staff in 10 centres. 23-Jul-2002 Memory Lane Cakes is to undergo a £9.5m reverse takeover by cash shell Megalomedia, creating a new group called Finsbury Foods. 23-Jul-2002 IMI is to sell its copper fittings business to Aalberts Industries of the Netherlands for £65m, in order to focus on fluid controls and beverage dispensing. 23-Jul-2002 Lastminute.com is to acquire Travelprice, the provider of online travel services in France, Italy, Belgium and Spain, for £32m. 23-Jul-2002 Easynet is to acquire most of the German web-hosting assets of Ision Internet and Ision Sales & Services out of administration for £2.2m. 22-Jul-2002 Grand Vacation Club has acquired CBM Group, the Spanish holiday firm with resorts in Majorca and Gran Canaria, for £7.5m. 22-Jul-2002 Auto Credit Trust is planning to acquire Direct Car Finance, the provider of car loans to people with poor credit ratings, for about £10m. 22-Jul-2002 Wolseley has acquired a number of plastic pipe distribution companies from Glynwed Pipe Systems for £23m. 22-Jul-2002 AF Blakemore has acquired John Edwards of Bangor, taking its cash and carry estate to eight. 22-Jul-2002 Scrivens has acquired Melson Wingate, the Dorset-based chain of 40 opticians, creating an enlarged nationwide network with about 100 branches and 1,000 staff. 19-Jul-2002 PDG Helicopters of Inverness has acquired Irish Helicopters for £2m, and is now looking to buy two charter helicopter operations in England. 19-Jul-2002 Pernod Ricard is to sell BWG, the Irish convenience stores group with 233 Spar and Mace stores in Northern Ireland, to a management buy-out for £220m. 19-Jul-2002 Spectris is to acquire Philips Analytical, the Dutch-based analytical instruments business of Royal Philips Electronics, for £96m, partly funded by a £40m share placing. 18-Jul-2002 Northgate is to acquire a 40% stake in Fualsa, the Spanish van rental company, for £10m, and has an option to buy the remaining 60% by May 2006. 18-Jul-2002 Corus is to acquire Companhia Sideurgica Nacional, the Brazilian steelmaker, for £2.7bn, which will provide access to cheaper supplies of iron ore. 18-Jul-2002 May Gurney has acquired T Cartledge, the Chelmsford-based lighting contractor, for undisclosed terms. 18-Jul-2002 DS Smith is to acquire Zewathener, the German bag-in-box packaging group with 80 staff, by buying a 51% stake from SCA Packaging and the remaining 49% from the current management. 17-Jul-2002 BBA Group has acquired Air Kaman, the US aircraft servicing company based at Jacksonville International Airport, for £11m. 17-Jul-2002 Zen Research, the developer of computer compact disc technology, is planning to undergo a £13m buy-out. 17-Jul-2002 Country & Metropolitan is to acquire NorthCountry Homes, the regional housebuilder, for up to £14m. 17-Jul-2002 Smiths Group has sold its Fans & Spares distribution business, which includes 18 branches throughout the country, to R&S Cartwright (Manchester) Engineers for £6.5m. 16-Jul-2002 BAe Systems is to sell its Electronic Warfare Passive Expendables Division in the US to Esterline Technologies for $67m. 16-Jul-2002 Hill & Smith has acquired Brifen, the Mansfield-based manufacturer of wire rope safety fences, for £1.4m. 16-Jul-2002 Pennon has expanded its Viridor Waste Management subsidiary with the acquisition of Roseland Plant, the Cornish waste management and plant hire company, for £9.5m. 16-Jul-2002 GUS Home Shopping has sold Family Hampers, the Leeds-based gift and hamper supplier with 110 staff, to management for undisclosed terms. 16-Jul-2002 Kensington Group is to acquire The Mortgage Lender, the Southampton-based mortgage intermediary with 139 staff, for £15m. 16-Jul-2002 Esporta, the health club operator, is to be acquired by private equity firm Duke Street Capital for £145m. 16-Jul-2002 Experian is planning to acquire Business Strategies, the economic consultancy with 40 staff. 16-Jul-2002 Inter-Alliance is planning to acquire HST, the financial services company, for £5.5m. 15-Jul-2002 Marconi has sold its Applied Technologies electronics business to venture capital firm 3i for £57m. 15-Jul-2002 Le Riche has merged with Ann Street and CI Traders to create a combined Channel Island-based retailing operation with 41 food stores and various other businesses. 15-Jul-2002 Ardana Bioscience has acquired Europeptides, the French pharmaceuticals research company, for up to £18m, and is also in discussions with several US companies about the possibility of marketing their drugs in Europe. 12-Jul-2002 Ricardo has acquired Gemini Transmissions, the Brackley-based motorsport company with 40 staff, for £3.4m. 11-Jul-2002 Chance & Hunt, the Runcorn-based chemicals distribution company with 48 staff, has been acquired by Luxembourg-based holding company Azelis for about £10m. 11-Jul-2002 Rathbones, the Liverpool-based fund management company, has acquired five London-based companies for a total £11m - Alphabay, Artcrown, Cedarpower, Meronbrook and Skychart. 11-Jul-2002 Leaf Technologies, the developer of electronic hearing devices, has been bought out of administration by SenseSonic of Macclesfield for £1m, saving 170 jobs. 11-Jul-2002 P&O Nedlloyd has acquired a majority stake in Gilbert Companies, the US logistics company, for undisclosed terms. 11-Jul-2002 Royal Bank of Scotland is selling 50% of its NatWest Stockbrokers division to TD Waterhouse for about £30m, and the joint venture will then outsource its operations to TDW. 10-Jul-2002 Precoat International is to sell its CSI steel processing subsidiary in Canada to Color Steels Holding Corporation for £6.2m. 10-Jul-2002 BBA Group has acquired three aviation services companies in the US and Canada for a total £23m, and has also announced plans to invest £5m expanding hangar facilities at Luton Airport. 10-Jul-2002 Chemring is to acquire ICS Electronics, the Arundel-based manufacturer of ship and radio coast station systems, for £1.5m. 10-Jul-2002 Lionweld Kennedy, the Middlesbrough-based manufacturer of engineering-based products, has undergone a £7.5m management buy-out from Australian parent Pacifica. 10-Jul-2002 AWG has sold Repairline to Build Assured for undisclosed terms, while its 85% stake in Kaldnes Miljoteknologi of Norway has been sold to Anox AB for £5.7m. 09-Jul-2002 Connaught has acquired Bluu International, the London-based interior design and project management company, for an initial £1m. 09-Jul-2002 Intelliplus has acquired Swwwoosh and its Freecom.net internet service provider subsidiary in the West Midlands for £3.8m. 09-Jul-2002 PipeHawk has acquired Adien, the supplier of subsurface radar surveying systems, for an initial £0.3m. 09-Jul-2002 M&M Sports has acquired Maximum Sports, the operator of sports shops in Swansea, Carmarthen and Merthyr, enabling Maximum to focus on its industrial workwear business. 09-Jul-2002 ICIS Technology, the IT solutions company with 127 staff in Harrogate and Cirencester, has been acquired by Siemens Power Generation for undisclosed terms. 09-Jul-2002 Dunn-Line has acquired Buffalo Travel, the Bedfordshire-based coach company with 35 vehicles and more than 50 staff, for undisclosed terms. 09-Jul-2002 UKbetting has acquired SCG Enterprises, the betting division of Sports.com, for £0.7m. 09-Jul-2002 Aviva is to sell its Spanish general insurance business to Groupama of France for £157m. 09-Jul-2002 Vacher Dod, the publisher of parliamentary directories, is to be acquired by Huveaux for £4.5m. 08-Jul-2002 South Staffordshire Group has acquired Highway Emergency Services, the Norwich-based supplier of emergency repair services to household insurers with 43 depots and 853 staff, for £28m. 08-Jul-2002 Speciality Retail Group has bought Racing Green, the clothing retailer, from Rubicon for undisclosed terms. 08-Jul-2002 Tesco is to acquire HIT, the operator of 13 hypermarkets in Poland, for undisclosed terms. 05-Jul-2002 Legal & General is to sell Legal & General Bank and Legal & General Mortgage Services to Northern Rock for £131m, as part of a strategy to focus on long-term savings, protection and general insurance. 05-Jul-2002 Ramco Energy has acquired Northern Exploration of Ireland from Northern Petroleum for £2m. 05-Jul-2002 Macfarlane is to acquire Tom Brands Electrical Services, the Gourock-based provider of supply chain management services, for £2m. 05-Jul-2002 Wolseley has acquired Wasco Group, the Dutch heating equipment and spares distributor, for £38m. 05-Jul-2002 Stanley Leisure is to acquire Tower Casino Group, the operator of five casinos in Reading, Blackpool, Derby and two in Birmingham, from Bell Holdings for £44m, taking its chain to 40. 05-Jul-2002 Numerica is to acquire the non-audit businesses of Southampton-based accountancy firm Burnett Swayne for £6m, in order to create a southern regional hub for its growing business. 05-Jul-2002 DTZ, the international property group, has acquired the new homes business of Birmingham-based agent Robert Powell for £0.7m. 05-Jul-2002 Charles Evans Group, the Liverpool-based shopfitting company with 80 staff, has undergone a multi-million pound management buy-out. 05-Jul-2002 Wimpy, the operator of 300 burger outlets, has undergone a £15m management buy-out backed by Bank of Scotland. 05-Jul-2002 Blazepoint is to acquire a 33% stake in Montal Group, the IT services company, and has an option to acquire the remaining 67% for £1.5m. 04-Jul-2002 Cains, the Liverpool-based brewer, has been acquired by Stourbridge-based drinks distributor Gardner Shaw for £3.4m. 04-Jul-2002 Tolly Cobbold is to merge with Essex-based brewer TD Ridley & Sons, and its Ipswich brewery will be closed and production transferred to the Ridleys brewery at Hartford End, near Chelmsford. 04-Jul-2002 Peacocks has agreed to acquire rival fashion store chain Bon Marche for £51m, and the new group plans to increase the number of shops from 585 to 1,200. 04-Jul-2002 Specialist Computer Holdings has acquired the Unix infrastructure business of Acuma for undisclosed terms, in order to expand its SCC Enterprise Computing division. 03-Jul-2002 Ulster Bank has sold Cunningham Coates, the Belfast-based stockbroking firm with 77 staff, to London-based asset management company NCL for undisclosed terms. 03-Jul-2002 Green Property, the industrial property group with assets in the UK and Ireland, is to undergo a £670m management buy-out. 03-Jul-2002 Legal & General Ventures is to buy the household products division of IWP, which includes the Jeyes toiletries brand, for £87m. 03-Jul-2002 Tricorn Group has acquired Integrated Statistical Solutions, the provider of data capture and analysis services to the utilities industry, for an initial £0.7m. 02-Jul-2002 Travis Perkins has acquired City Plumbing Supplies, the nationwide network of 48 plumbing and heating branches, for £38m. 02-Jul-2002 Premier Farnell has sold D-A Lubricant, the US-based manufacturer of speciality lubricants, to Mecom Acquisition Corporation of Indianapolis. 02-Jul-2002 Claims Direct has raised £2.9m from the sale of three non-trading subsidiaries - Rosie One, Towerfocus and Ropespring. 02-Jul-2002 Trinity Mirror has sold Ethnic Media Group, the publisher of five national Asian and African-Caribbean titles, to a management buy-out for £10m. 02-Jul-2002 Altecnic, the Stafford-based plumbing component supplier with more than 40 staff, has been acquired by Caleffi of Italy for undisclosed terms. 02-Jul-2002 Meggitt has acquired a number of military aerospace product lines, including air data transducers, engine management units and flight data recorders, from BAe Systems for £15m. 02-Jul-2002 Gowrings has sold its Ford dealership in Newbury to City Motor Holdings for £1.4m, and the proceeds will be used to expand its chain of 43 Burger King restaurants. 02-Jul-2002 Arriva has acquired SAB Autoservizi, the Italian bus operator with 1,200 staff, for £44m. 02-Jul-2002 Bunzl has acquired Kenco Sales of Seattle for undisclosed terms, in order to expand its plastic and paper products business in the US. 02-Jul-2002 Greencore is to sell two subsidiaries to Campbell Soup for about £16m, including William Rodgers, the UK pasta and rice company, and Erin Foods, the Irish soups and sauces company. 01-Jul-2002 ARC Risk Management, the provider of security risk management and training to individuals and companies, is being acquired by Perthshire Leisure for £0.5m. 01-Jul-2002 Quantica has acquired James Kimber Education, the London-based provider of publicly funded work-based training for young people, for £0.6m, and will relocate the business to its site in Hounslow. 01-Jul-2002 Centrica has acquired Regional Power Generators, the owner of the Glandford Brigg power station in Lincolnshire, from IVO Energy for £37m. 01-Jul-2002 Novocastra Laboratories, the biotechnology company that started as a spin-off from Newcastle University, has been acquired by Vision Systems of Australia for £35m. 01-Jul-2002 LEPCO, the oil and gas company, is to acquire Sterling Energy in a £9.5m reverse takeover. 01-Jul-2002 Cadbury Schweppes is to acquire the branded chewing gum business of Dandy of Denmark for £201m. 28-Jun-2002 XKO Group has acquired Aran, the enterprise business software company with offices in York, Birmingham and Burnham, for £2.4m. 28-Jun-2002 RPS Group has acquired MCOS, the Irish engineering and environmental consultancy with 350 staff, for £12m. 28-Jun-2002 ImageState has acquired Pictor International, the London-based stock photography company. 28-Jun-2002 BT Group is to acquire the Scoot online directories business for about £8m, in order to re-enter the classified information market following the recent sale of Yell. 28-Jun-2002 Haynes Publishing is to acquire the printed manuals business of Gregory Automotive Publications of Australia from Universal Press for £2.1m. 27-Jun-2002 Medical Solutions has reached agreement with Peterborough Hospital Trust to acquire Peterborough Cellular Pathology Services, in return for an annual licence fee. 27-Jun-2002 General Domestic Appliances, the manufacturer of Hotpoint white goods with 6,000 UK staff, is being acquired by Merloni Elettrodomestici of Italy in a £179m deal that involves the sale of General Electric's 50% stake. 27-Jun-2002 Sportingbet has acquired the Sporting Odds betting business from Sporting Index for £4.5m, partly funded by a £2m share issue. 27-Jun-2002 Bunzl has sold its paper distribution business to PaperLinX of Australia for £139m, and the proceeds will be used to reduce debt. 27-Jun-2002 Brake Bros, the catering company, is to be acquired by US private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice in a £434m deal. 26-Jun-2002 Thomas Vale has acquired Paul Adams, the Halesowen-based street lighting contractor, for undisclosed terms. 26-Jun-2002 Arriva has acquired a 51% stake in Transportes Sul de Tejo, the Portuguese-based bus operator with 1,300 staff, from the Barraqueiro Group for £23m, and has an option to buy the remaining 49%. 25-Jun-2002 Wolseley has acquired four more building material distributors for £10m - Sumner & Dunbar and Tahoe Truckee Supply of the US, Brock Engineering of Canada and O'Rourke Plumbing Supplies of Northern Ireland. 25-Jun-2002 Budgens, the convenience stores operator, is to be acquired by Musgrave of Ireland for £316m, and Musgrave is looking to open up to 20 new stores a year in the UK. 24-Jun-2002 Milk Group is to merge with Zenith Milk to create a new co-operative organisation called Dairy Farmers of Britain, in order to reduce the haulage and administration costs involved with supplying milk to dairies. 24-Jun-2002 Ethel Austin, the discount clothing retailer with 238 outlets, is to undergo a £45m management buy-out backed by Lloyds TSB Development Capital. 21-Jun-2002 Metrodome has sold its Metro Direct and Triton Trading Services mail order video and DVD divisions, as well as its DTK Metrodome record label, to Gotup & Went for £0.1m. 21-Jun-2002 Capita Group has acquired three businesses specialising in absence related cost management services from the Wynchgate Group for £19m, in order to expand its HR Service division. 21-Jun-2002 TRW Aeronautical Systems is to be acquired by Goodrich of the US for about £1bn, resulting in new ownership for plants in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Merseyside, Hemel Hempstead and Belfast. 20-Jun-2002 RiverSoft, the network software company, is to be acquired by Micromuse of the US for £43m. 20-Jun-2002 Wembley is to sell its ticket retailing business to The Way Ahead Group for up to £0.6m, as part of a strategy to dispose of its non-core Events Services division. 20-Jun-2002 Greene King has acquired the Morrells chain of 107 Oxford-based pubs for £67m. 19-Jun-2002 Seeboard, the south-east England electricity supplier, is to be acquired by Electricite de France for £1.39bn, and the business will be merged with London Electricity to create a combined group with more than 10,000 staff. 19-Jun-2002 Phoenix Equity Partners has acquired Abbey Hospitals Group, the owner of six private hospitals, for £25m, creating a new group called Covenant Healthcare. 19-Jun-2002 CarringtonCarr, the Leicester-based independent financial adviser with 270 staff, has been acquired by AWD of Germany for £32m. 19-Jun-2002 Isoft has acquired the healthcare software business of Northgate Information Solutions, which sells electronic patient record systems to NHS trusts, for £33m. 19-Jun-2002 Prudential is to acquire ING's life insurance business in the Philippines, which includes 17 offices and 100 staff. 19-Jun-2002 Signs & Labels has acquired Focal Signs, the Surrey-based sign maker with 74 staff, for undisclosed terms, and most of Focal's manufacturing operation will be relocated to Stockport. 19-Jun-2002 Jefferson Smurfit, the Irish packaging group, is to undergo a £2.4bn management buy-out backed by US private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners. 18-Jun-2002 National Express has acquired Stock Transportation, the Canadian school bus operator, for £75m, and is now seeking further bolt-on acquisitions in Canada. 18-Jun-2002 Gartmore has acquired Riverview International, the US fund manager, for undisclosed terms. 18-Jun-2002 Actinic, the developer of e-commerce software, has sold its trading activities to a management team for a nominal sum. 17-Jun-2002 Northern Electric is to sell its chain of more than 30 shops in the North-East and Yorkshire to management, creating a new group called Northern Retail, but 90 of the 440 jobs will be lost. 17-Jun-2002 Georgian Goodacre Carpets has undergone a management buy-out, saving 160 jobs at its carpet factory in Kendal. 17-Jun-2002 Williams Lea has acquired Alistair McIntosh, the West Yorkshire-based print outsourcing company with 200 staff, for undisclosed terms. 17-Jun-2002 Really Useful Theatres has acquired Way Ahead, the Nottingham-based ticketing agency, from Telewest for £13m. 17-Jun-2002 Royal Bank of Scotland has acquired Medford Bancorp of the US for £187m, gaining 19 branches in Massachusetts. 14-Jun-2002 Poundland, the chain of 73 discount stores, has undergone a management buy-out for about £50m. 14-Jun-2002 Telecom Plus has acquired Telecommunications Management, the Sussex-based telephony supplier with 29 staff, for £4.9m. 14-Jun-2002 Lastminute.com is to acquire The Destination Holdings Group, the online travel group offering holidays, flights and car hire, for £12m, partly funded by a £8m share placing. 14-Jun-2002 Anite has acquired CME Systems, the Bedfordshire-based provider of forensic and property management products with 16 staff, for about £1m. 14-Jun-2002 Mitie Group has sold a number of Mitie Access scaffolding subsidiaries to a management buy-out team operating under the name of Bow Scaffolding Group, in a £5m deal. 13-Jun-2002 Adria, the hosiery manufacturer with 1,300 staff, has been sold by Charnos to a management buy-out backed by private equity firm Amicus Partners, while the Charnos lingerie business is being sold to Premoda Group. 13-Jun-2002 Andrews Sykes has sold its Cox plant hire business to Paddico, a new company established by Close Brothers, for £9.3m. 13-Jun-2002 Taylor Nelson Sofres has acquired Evaliant Media Resources, the US-based provider of online advertising data with 17 staff. 12-Jun-2002 Wagon is to sell its storage systems business to private equity group Whittan Investments for £60m, in order to focus on the manufacture of large vehicle structures. 12-Jun-2002 Royal & Sun Alliance is to sell its Isle of Man-based life assurance operations to Friends Provident for £133m, as part of a strategy to focus on general insurance. 12-Jun-2002 Dolphin Telecom, the developer of a radio communications network, has been bought out of administration by Inquam for £25m. 12-Jun-2002 Digital Sport is to acquire Time Management Global, the sports management and representation group, for up to £1.8m. 11-Jun-2002 Beshara Press of Tewkesbury and sister company CentrePoint of Nottingham are to be acquired by Midlands Publishing Holdings. 11-Jun-2002 Avalon Printing Software of Leicester has been acquired by VantagePoint Systems of Canada for about £0.5m, and will become VantagePoint's retail packaging division. 11-Jun-2002 WPP has acquired London-based research consultancy HeadlightVision, the Samcor Communications Company in the US and a 60% stake in Chinese PR company H-Line Worldwide. 11-Jun-2002 Kleeneze is to sell its Tranfood meat processing business to Recordline, in order to raise up to £3m and focus on its direct retail operations. 11-Jun-2002 Horizon Technology is planning to sell its Cisco Training business, which includes 62 staff in the UK, Italy, Denmark and Sweden to Azlan for £7.4m. 11-Jun-2002 ICI is to sell its Security Systems operations to US private equity firm Lincolnshire Management, which will involve the transfer of 135 staff. 11-Jun-2002 Online Travel Corporation has acquired Travelstore.com, Oxford Technology Solutions, Amersham Travel and Equator-net from the Travelstore.com Group for £2.1m. 11-Jun-2002 Vantis, the accountancy and professional advisory group, has acquired the non-audit business of Darlington-based Gregory Mitford & Snowball for an initial £0.2m. 07-Jun-2002 Fiske has acquired Ionian Group, the investment management company, for £1.6m. 07-Jun-2002 Hartest has acquired Qados, the distributor of radiotherapy healthcare and research equipment, for £1.7m. 07-Jun-2002 Expomedia has acquired a 51% stake in International Exhibitions & Conferences of Morocco for up to £0.5m. 07-Jun-2002 Serco has acquired SDC, the healthcare management consultancy, for £2m, in order to increase the range of strategic advice and consultancy services provided to the NHS. 07-Jun-2002 Leeds Group has sold Sharps Fabric Printers to a management buy-out for £0.7m, completing its withdrawal from textile manufacturing. 07-Jun-2002 KPMG Consulting, the IT consultancy operating in the UK and Netherlands, has been acquired by Amsterdam-based Atos Origin for £420m. 07-Jun-2002 Gaskell has sold the Crucial Trading business of Tomkinsons to Headlam Floorcovering Distributors for £1.8m, as part of a strategy to focus on its contract carpet tile and broadloom activities. 06-Jun-2002 Woolworths has announced that its VCI subsidiary has sold the trading assets of its entertainment distribution business, Disc Distribution, to Deluxe Video Services for under £1m. 06-Jun-2002 Centrica has acquired Tyreserve, the supplier of replacement tyres via a nationwide network, for £0.4m. 06-Jun-2002 Field & Lawn Marquees has acquired CBC Marquees of Bristol for about £1.8m. 06-Jun-2002 Babtie Group has acquired Rushbrook Consultants, the fire safety consultant, and will create a new business unit called Babtie Rushbrook at offices in Glasgow. 06-Jun-2002 Marks & Spencer has acquired the View From sports wear clothing label for undisclosed terms, in order to expand its portfolio of in-store brands. 06-Jun-2002 Babcock International has acquired Service Group International, the provider of support services to the Ministry of Defence, from Hg Capital for up to £27m. 06-Jun-2002 BOC is to acquire the UK industrial gases business of Enron for about £10m, including compression facilities at a Teesside power plant. 06-Jun-2002 Keenpac Holdings of Leicester has undergone a management buy-out from Bridgepoint Capital, with Bank of Scotland Corporate Banking providing a £20m debt and equity package. 04-Jun-2002 GET Group has sold the forged products business of its Worcester-based Tower Manufacturing subsidiary to Floform of Welshpool for £1.8m. 03-Jun-2002 FKI is to acquire DeWind, the German manufacturer of wind turbines, for £12m. 03-Jun-2002 Ferraris has sold its specialist engineering division, which includes Jenaer Gewindetechnik in Germany, Jena Rotary Technology in the UK and Jena-Tec in the US to Avingtrans for £3m. 03-Jun-2002 CeNes Pharmaceuticals has sold its cognitive testing division to a management team operating under the name of Cambridge Cognition for up to £1m. 03-Jun-2002 Whitbread has sold Pelican and BrightReasons, which together comprise 153 restaurants, to a management buy-in backed by private equity firm ECI for £25m. 03-Jun-2002 Tribal Group has acquired MJP, the planning and property consultancy services company, for £3.2m. 03-Jun-2002 Proteome Sciences is planning to acquire Xzillion Proteomics, the proteomics division of Aventis Research & Technologies, for £12m. 03-Jun-2002 Burtonwood Brewery is to acquire JER, the owner of 94 pubs currently leased by Burtonwood, for £17m, in order to increase its control over the refurbishment of the estate. 03-Jun-2002 Metal Treatments, the Birmingham-based electropaint and powder finishing company with 150 staff, has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms, and is now creating 30 new jobs and investing £2m in a new production line. 03-Jun-2002 Keepmere Engineering, the manufacturer of precipitators with 20 staff, has been acquired by US-owned Environmental Elements UK, for undisclosed terms. 03-Jun-2002 Pressac is to sell 51% of its Interconnect wiring and circuit board business to management for £4.6m. 31-May-2002 Provident Financial has sold its Colonade Insurance Brokers subsidiary, which includes 88 high street outlets, to Swinton Group for £27m. 31-May-2002 Cable & Wireless has won approval from the Guernsey parliament to acquire Guernsey Telecom for £30m, and will invest £5m in the island's e-business infrastructure. 31-May-2002 IFG Group has acquired Trade Credit Brokers, the Irish independent credit insurance brokerage, for an initial £1m. 30-May-2002 JV Group has merged with Howells Group to create JVH Group, a combined Bridgend-based facilities management and business outsourcing group with 235 staff. 30-May-2002 Hanson is to acquire Choctaw, the US concrete pipes company, from Amatek for £92m. 30-May-2002 De La Rue has acquired an 85% stake in Sequoia, the US supplier of voting equipment, from Jefferson Smurfit for £24m. 30-May-2002 Metnor has acquired Keynor, the Newcastle-based commercial and leisure contractor with 60 staff, for undisclosed terms. 30-May-2002 Country & Metropolitan is to undergo a £15m reverse takeover by an unnamed private house builder. 30-May-2002 Tribal Group has acquired Nightingale, the healthcare architectural practice with offices in Oxford, London and Brighton and more than 100 staff, for £6.7m. 29-May-2002 Springwood has acquired Victorian Leisure, the Barnsley-based nightclub operator, for £3.2m. 29-May-2002 Solid State Supplies has acquired Steatite, the distributor of electronic components, for £1.4m. 29-May-2002 Glen Dimplex has acquired two distributors of electrical equipment - Brownbrook of Craigavon and Dimco of Dublin, which together employ around 100 people. 29-May-2002 Tornado is to acquire Virtue Broadcasting, the provider of online broadcasting services, for £5m, and will change its name to Tornado Virtue. 29-May-2002 Kewill Systems is selling its enterprise resource planning software business to Exact of the Netherlands for £13m, and the proceeds will be used to acquire e-commerce companies. 29-May-2002 Parkman has acquired Full Circle, the Swindon-based education and training services company, for up to £1.5m. 28-May-2002 WS Atkins is to acquire Hanscomb, the US project management consultancy with 375 staff, for about £20m. 28-May-2002 Bunzl has acquired Lockhart, the Reading-based supplier of catering equipment with annual sales of about £60m, from Sodexho. 28-May-2002 Waddies, the Livingston-based printer, has been acquired by Ormolu Group for undisclosed terms, and will be combined with Ormolu's Pillans & Wilson business in Edinburgh. 28-May-2002 Clarity Group has acquired Gazebo Products, the London-based stationery supplier with 45 staff, for undisclosed terms. 28-May-2002 Mean Fiddler has acquired Ritz 1035, the London-based music radio station, for undisclosed terms. 28-May-2002 Golden Wonder, the snacks manufacturer, is being sold by Bridgepoint Capital to The Snack Factory of Skelmersdale for undisclosed terms, while the Wotsits brand is being sold to Walkers. 28-May-2002 Watermark Group is to acquire Globe Audio, the provider of headsets to the airline and leisure industries, for £0.6m. 27-May-2002 Tomkins has sold Lasco Composites, the manufacturer of fibreglass reinforced panel products, to Crane Co of the US for £30m. 27-May-2002 Ennstone Thistle has acquired an asphalt and contracting operation at Daviot, Inverness, and a quarrying operation at Furnace in Argyll and Orrock in Fife from Tarmac Northern for £0.75m. 27-May-2002 Saville Gordon, the industrial property company, is to undergo a £500m management buy-out. 27-May-2002 Sanctuary is to acquire Air-Edel, the music publisher, for £1.2m. 27-May-2002 Co-operative Group has acquired GT Smith, the West Yorkshire-based chain of 13 stores, and will invest £4.2m converting the sites into its Market Town and Welcome formats. 27-May-2002 Enodis, the kitchen equipment manufacturer, is to sell its Aladdin meal delivery systems business in the US to Ali of Italy for £27m. 24-May-2002 Greencore has sold Grassland Holdings, the Irish agricultural fertilizers company, to Freshgrass Investments for £11m. 24-May-2002 Torday & Carlisle has sold Colin Stewart Minchem and Silgel Packaging to AMCOL International of the US for £9.5m. 24-May-2002 Kunick, the operator of leisure centres and amusement machines, is to undergo a £78m management buy-out. 24-May-2002 Man Group is planning to acquire RMF, the Swiss hedge fund manager, for £570m. 24-May-2002 Powermole of Sittingbourne has been acquired by Zoomlion, the Chinese company that is aiming to become a global force in the manufacture of construction plant. 24-May-2002 Claims Direct has raised £1.6m from the sale of Sailpool, a non-trading subsidiary. 23-May-2002 Cendant has agreed to sell the NCP chain of 535 car parks to Cinven and Royal Bank of Scotland for £820m. 23-May-2002 Ayscough Travel, the operator of 10 travel management centres throughout the country, has been acquired by European Travel Holdings for undisclosed terms. 23-May-2002 Dechra Pharmaceuticals has acquired Anglian Pharma of Lincolnshire for £2.5m, and will merge the business with its Dales pharmaceutical contract manufacturing business in Skipton. 21-May-2002 Scottish Radio Holdings is selling its outdoor advertising business to Clear Channel UK for £33m. 21-May-2002 Innovation Group is to acquire the main software business of InterX for up to £8.3m. 21-May-2002 Peterhouse is to acquire EPS Event, the German events infrastructure company, for £4m. 20-May-2002 Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group is to sell its life and general Benelux subsidiaries to Achmea of the Netherlands for £77m. 20-May-2002 Art Pattern, the Leicester-based manufacturer of moulds and patterns, is expected to be bought out of administration by a management team for under £1m, saving 60 jobs. 20-May-2002 McIntosh of Dyce has sold its bakery business to Bell Bakers of Shotts for undisclosed terms, saving 75 jobs. 20-May-2002 Glisten, the Blackburn-based specialist foods company, is planning a flotation on Aim, and will then undergo a £7.5m management buy-in. 20-May-2002 AMP of Australia has sold Cogent, the London-based provider of back office services to investment managers with 1,000 staff, for up to £227m. 20-May-2002 Westbury is to acquire Prowting for £141m, in order to expand its housebuilding activities in the south of England. 20-May-2002 First Choice Holidays is to acquire Exodus Travels, the operator of adventure holidays, for up to £10m. 20-May-2002 Warrens of St Just has acquired the Mayflower bakery in Plymouth, which will involve the transfer of 100 staff. 17-May-2002 EasyJet has agreed to acquire Go for £374m, creating Europe's largest low-cost airline with 63 aircraft, 2,700 staff and 32 European destinations. 17-May-2002 Tomkins has sold its GCI rubber products business to Rutland Trust for £24m, and the proceeds will be used to reduce debt and fund small acquisitions for its automotive engineering business. 17-May-2002 Bank of Ireland has acquired Iridian, the US investment manager, for £121m, which will double the size of its asset management business. 17-May-2002 BOC is to acquire Unique Gas & Petrochemicals of Thailand for £31m, and is now planning to make further bolt-on acquisitions in Asia. 17-May-2002 Carlton Communications has formed a joint venture with Thomson Multimedia to acquire the cinema advertising operations of UGC of France and RTBF of Belgium for £62m. 16-May-2002 South Staffordshire Group has acquired Regency Financial Holdings of Weston-super-Mare, the provider of retail warranty services with 222 staff, for up to £45m. 16-May-2002 Team Telecom has acquired Simoco Radio, the provider of telecom support services, for undisclosed terms, securing 51 jobs in Derby and 17 in Cambridge. 15-May-2002 Clark Scott Harden has acquired Harmer Mortimer, the North Yorkshire estate agency with offices in Northallerton and Thirsk. 15-May-2002 Amersham is to acquire Cimarron Software, the US developer of software for medical researchers, for up to £34m. 15-May-2002 Invensys has sold its CompAir compressed air and gas business to Alchemy Partners for a nominal sum. 15-May-2002 Franklin + Andrews is to merge with Mott MacDonald, creating a combined project management group with 7,000 staff and annual turnover of £400m. 15-May-2002 Capita Group has acquired three human resources businesses with 220 staff from PricewaterhouseCoopers for £14m, including Human Resources Outsourcing, Interim Management and Executive Search & Selection. 14-May-2002 Eleco has acquired Downer Cladding Systems, the supplier of fixing systems for rain screen facade cladding, for £1m. 14-May-2002 BSOFTB has sold its remaining software technology businesses to management for a nominal sum. 14-May-2002 Communisis is to acquire Centurion, the Rickmansworth-based print management services company with 135 staff, for £42m. 14-May-2002 Gaucho Grill, the restaurant operator, is to be acquired by a new company called Pan European Restaurants for £13m. 14-May-2002 AEA Technology is to sell Hyprotech, the Canadian engineering software business with an office in Harwell, to Aspen Technology for £67m. 13-May-2002 Ensor Holdings has acquired CMS Tools, the supplier of tools to the roofing trade, for £2m. 13-May-2002 Rabbit Catering has sold its Teesside-based chain of Galley Coffee shops to the Ladhar Group of Newcastle for undisclosed terms, which will involve the transfer of 210 jobs. 13-May-2002 Gregory Pennington, the Sale-based debt management firm with 250 staff, has been sold to management for undisclosed terms. 13-May-2002 Brandons has acquired Moorland Poultry of Yorkshire for undisclosed terms, creating a combined turkey business with annual turnover of more than £100m. 13-May-2002 Energy Power Resources is to acquire the renewable energy operations of Kelda for up to £25m, including a wood-fired power station near Selby and a 31% stake in three chicken litter plants. 13-May-2002 EMI has acquired Mute, the independent record label, for an initial £23m. 13-May-2002 Druck, the Leicester-based manufacturer of control systems, is to be acquired by GE Industrial Systems of the US for £229m. 13-May-2002 Punch Pub Company has acquired White Rose Taverns, the Yorkshire-based operator of 46 pubs, for £15m. 13-May-2002 Jumbo International has acquired Supa-Bounce, the Hinckley-based manufacturer of inflatable air structures for the play and leisure sectors, for £0.25m. 10-May-2002 GKN is to acquire Astech, the US manufacturer of titanium components for aircraft, for £22m. 10-May-2002 Torex has acquired Berkeley Computer Systems, the Glasgow-based NHS laboratory systems supplier, for £3.5m. 09-May-2002 Zoo Digital has acquired Digital Worldwide, the computer games distributor, for £1.1m. 09-May-2002 MacLellan Group is to acquire Broadreach, the Hatfield-based cleaning and support services company with over 5,000 employees nationwide, for £17m. 09-May-2002 John Menzies has acquired The Wyng Group, the ground handling and air cargo trucking company with annual turnover of £6.3m. 09-May-2002 Chisholm Bookmakers has acquired North East Racing, the chain of 10 betting shops, for undisclosed terms. 09-May-2002 Cleveland Potash, the Teesside potash mine with 866 staff, has been acquired by Israel Chemicals for £30m. 09-May-2002 T Clarke has acquired Kestrel Electrical, the Midlands-based electrical contractor with 13 staff, for undisclosed terms. 09-May-2002 Galen is to sell its clinical trials business to its founder for £130m, in order to focus on pharmaceuticals production. 09-May-2002 Smiths Group has sold its Colchester-based urology products business and its Sussex-based ostomy products business to Mentor of the US for £7.3m. 08-May-2002 Southern Water is to be acquired by Vivendi Environnement of France for £2.05bn, taking Vivendi's share of the UK water market to 10%. 08-May-2002 Guardian Media Group is planning to acquire the Jazz FM radio station for £41m, following government proposals to relax the laws on media ownership. 08-May-2002 Fitness First has bought the Curzons chain of 12 London health clubs from Whitbread for £6m. 08-May-2002 Brewin Dolphin has acquired Popes, the Stoke-based stockbroker with 52 staff, for up to £8.6m. 08-May-2002 Dixons is to acquire Direct Telephone Services, the Manchester-based provider of mobile phone services under the Genesis Communications brand, for up to £31m. 08-May-2002 Thompson & Morgan, the Ipswich-based horticulture and seeds company, has undergone a £17m management buy-out from US parent International Garden Products. 07-May-2002 MV Sports has acquired Water Waiter, the Kettering-based water dispensing machine rental company, for £2.2m. 06-May-2002 Go-Ahead has acquired Meteor Parking, the operator of airport car parks and associated bus services at Heathrow, Stansted, Edinburgh and Southampton, for £16m. 06-May-2002 Blacks Leisure has sold its First Sport, AV and Pure Woman sport and fashion retailing operations to John David Sports for £53m. 06-May-2002 Nestle has agreed to sell its UK-based ambient-temperature food operations to Premier International Foods for about £135m. 06-May-2002 EasyJet is in negotiations to acquire Go for about £400m, in order to create Europe's largest low-cost airline. 06-May-2002 Confetti, the online wedding gifts business, has acquired Jerry's Home Stores, the chain of homeware stores, for undisclosed terms. 06-May-2002 Geest has acquired SBLP, the French prepared salads company, for £1.6m, in order to strengthen its position in the north of the country. 03-May-2002 CRH has acquired EHL Group, the German concrete paving company with 32 depots and 1,350 staff, for £93m. 03-May-2002 Management Consulting Group is to acquire Parson Group, the US provider of financial management consultancy services with 13 offices, for £38m. 03-May-2002 Groupe Chez Gerard has sold the Scotts seafood restaurant in London's Mayfair to an unnamed buyer for £2.9m. 03-May-2002 Multi Group has acquired the London-based small tools division of Gilmac Building Services for £0.2m. 02-May-2002 Wyevale Garden Centres has acquired the Auldene garden centre near Leyland for £3.4m, taking its chain to 122. 02-May-2002 Spirent has sold the business and certain assets of Switching Systems International for £6.3m. 02-May-2002 HC Troldahl has sold its kitchen design business to management for undisclosed terms, in order to focus on refrigeration and air conditioning. 02-May-2002 Tate & Lyle has sold its US-based Western Sugar business to Rocky Mountain Sugar Growers Co-operative for £58m. 02-May-2002 Westminster Healthcare, the operator of about 90 nursing homes, has undergone a £267m management buy-out backed by 3i. 02-May-2002 Viridian has sold its Open & Direct financial services business to Alchemy Partners for £111m. 02-May-2002 Wilson Organisation has acquired O'Dell Walton & Partners, the Nottingham-based insurance company, for undisclosed terms, and will relocate the 10 staff to its Waverley Street office. 01-May-2002 Wrekin Construction has acquired Filcom for undisclosed terms, in order to expand its cable contracting business. 01-May-2002 Royal & Sun Alliance has sold its investment division to Friends Ivory & Sime for £240m, which will involve the transfer of 300 staff. 01-May-2002 Headlam has acquired DJ Hann, the regional distributor of floorcoverings, for an initial £0.5m, and will relocate the business to Headlam's distribution centre in Newbury. 30-Apr-2002 Enterprise has acquired Lloyd & Scotter Lighting, the Hull-based provider of street lighting services, for £1.5m. 30-Apr-2002 Smartlogik, the developer of knowledge management software, is to sell its assets to Applied Psychology Research for £1.7m, and APR will take on 36 of the 67 staff. 30-Apr-2002 Nationwide Accident Repair Services, the car repair specialist, has accepted a £24m takeover bid from Guinness Peat. 30-Apr-2002 International Academy, the football holiday company, is to undergo a £7m reverse takeover by Leisure Ventures. 30-Apr-2002 CSS Stellar is to acquire Craigie Taylor International, the Guildford-based sports sponsorship company, for up to £10m. 30-Apr-2002 Charles Stanley is to acquire Robson Cotterell, the Bournemouth-based stockbroker, for up to £9.5m. 29-Apr-2002 Idea Integration, the Brierley Hill-based software developer, has undergone a management buy-out from US parent MPS for undisclosed terms. 29-Apr-2002 Pimpernel has expanded its tablemats business with the acquisition of Cloverleaf Group, and will close Cloverleaf's Swindon factory with the loss of 90 jobs and recruit 30 new staff at its base near Consett. 29-Apr-2002 Mappin & Webb is to acquire Robertsons, the London-based pawnbroker, for about £1m. 29-Apr-2002 Westminster Healthcare is to sell the Priory chain of 29 health clinics to Doughty Hanson for £290m. 29-Apr-2002 Palletways, the logistics company, has undergone a £12m management buy-out backed by 3i. 29-Apr-2002 British European Associated Publishers, the publisher of puzzle magazines, is to undergo a £37m management buy-out from Sanoma Magazine of Finland. 29-Apr-2002 Guardian iT, the computer disaster recovery company, has accepted a £167m takeover bid from SunGard of the US. 26-Apr-2002 QuantaNova, the biotechnology company that has 58 staff and was formerly known as Scotia, has been bought of administration by Biolitec of Germany for undisclosed terms. 26-Apr-2002 Acal is to acquire ATMParts, the Hampshire-based distributor of spare parts for cash dispensers, for £8m. 25-Apr-2002 Aga Foodservice has acquired Belshaw Brothers, the US manufacturer of doughnut equipment, from Enodis for about £16m. 25-Apr-2002 Temprint and Cornwall Lithographic Printers have merged their Redruth-based printing businesses into a newly formed holding company called Pryntya, with combined turnover of £4.8m. 25-Apr-2002 Matalan is to acquire Wolsey, the Leicester-based menswear supplier with annual turnover of £14m, for undisclosed terms. 25-Apr-2002 Zetters is to acquire Financial Spreads, the spread betting company, from Sporting Index for £8.7m, partly funded by a £4.7m share placing. 25-Apr-2002 Pell Frischmann has acquired Morgan Horne, the water and sewage consulting engineer, for undisclosed terms. 25-Apr-2002 Radamec has sold the surface mount assemblies and hybrid microsystems business of Radamec Electronic Systems to Sascal of Hayes for £0.25m. 24-Apr-2002 Delta is to sell Sourdillon, the manufacturer of gas burners in France, Mexico and the US, to Burner Systems International for £18m. 24-Apr-2002 Associated British Foods is to acquire the Mazola corn products business in the US and 18 other brands from Unilever for £248m. 24-Apr-2002 Automatic Handling Europe has acquired SHS Handling Systems, the manufacturer of integrated corrugating and materials handling solutions, and will relocate its Northwich operation to the SHS factory at Ellesmere Port. 23-Apr-2002 T Clarke has acquired WE Manin, the Sittingbourne-based electrical contractor with 60 staff, for £1.6m. 23-Apr-2002 National Grid and Lattice are planning a £15bn merger to create a combined gas and electricity group called National Grid Transco. 23-Apr-2002 Dixon Motors has accepted a £110m takeover bid from Royal Bank of Scotland, which will enable the car dealership to exploit synergies with the Lombard asset finance division of RBS. 23-Apr-2002 NWF Group has acquired the Dukeries Garden Centre in Worksop for £2.4m, and now operates six Country Stores and three Garden Centres. 22-Apr-2002 Medical Solutions has sold Thackray Instruments and Thackray Practice Plus to Williams Medical Supplies of South Wales for £0.7m. 22-Apr-2002 Britmag, the Hartlepool-based magnesium works, has been bought out of administration by a management team under the name of CJC Chemical for undisclosed terms, saving 44 jobs. 22-Apr-2002 Gieves & Hawkes, the menswear retailer, has accepted a £7.9m takeover bid from USI of Hong Kong. 22-Apr-2002 Lexis Public Relations, the London-based PR company, has undergone a management buy-out for about £5m. 19-Apr-2002 Anite has acquired Micro Surveys Property Systems of Kingston-upon-Thames for up to £8m, in order to provide mobile working applications to the public sector. 19-Apr-2002 Glow Communications is to acquire the customer base of Future Integrated Telephony out of administration for up to £0.5m. 19-Apr-2002 WPP is to acquire Irish Marketing Surveys, which has 130 staff in Dublin and Belfast, in order to expand its Millward Brown communications research business. 19-Apr-2002 McLeod Russel has acquired two Danish air filter companies - Industrifilter and Synsafe Danmark - for up to £0.5m. 19-Apr-2002 Greene King has acquired Dalgety Taverns, the Fife-based chain of eight pubs, for undisclosed terms, and will convert the sites into the Hungry Horse format. 19-Apr-2002 Wolseley is to acquire Clayton Acquisition, the US distributor of storm-drainage materials, for £77m, in order to gain a foothold in the Florida market. 19-Apr-2002 Lloyds TSB is to buy two contract fleet hire businesses, which lease 73,000 cars to large companies, from Abbey National for £46m. 19-Apr-2002 RPS Group has acquired Indepth Surveys of Bristol for up to £3m and JR Stansfield & Associates of Warrington for £0.5m, in order to expand its water services and risk management divisions. 18-Apr-2002 Lex Service has sold its Lex Autocentres network of 96 vehicle servicing sites to Nationwide Autocentres for £4m. 17-Apr-2002 Frederick Cooper is to sell its Cooper Coil Coating subsidiary in the US to a newly-registered Florida-based company for £2.1m. 17-Apr-2002 Mean Fiddler is to acquire Finlaw 279, the operator of dance clubs in Nottingham, Glasgow and Coatbridge, for £2m. 16-Apr-2002 United Engineering Forgings has sold its Kidderminster-based automotive connecting rods business out of administration to Smethwick Drop Forge, saving 70 jobs. 16-Apr-2002 Mitchells Practical Campers of Wakefield has been acquired by CCCoutdoors of Sheffield, creating a combined camping business with turnover of £6m and about 50 staff. 16-Apr-2002 Tote has acquired the Manny Bernstein chain of 30 betting shops in the Midlands and North East, taking its chain to almost 400. 16-Apr-2002 John Laing has sold its property development business to a joint venture of Kier Group and Bank of Scotland for £40m, as part of a £120m disposal programme to reduce debt. 16-Apr-2002 Parity has acquired the IT training division of Sx3 for up to £0.2m, in order to expand its presence in Northern Ireland. 15-Apr-2002 Taylor Nelson Sofres has acquired Elrick & Lavidge, the US marketing research company with annual turnover of $23m. 15-Apr-2002 Birchin International is to acquire Park Row financial advisers in a £13m reverse takeover, and the new group will raise £3m in a share placing. 15-Apr-2002 Enterprise Inns is to acquire 1,860 pubs from Laurel for £875m, in order to expand its estate in the south of England. 15-Apr-2002 Capita Group has acquired City Financial Group, the provider of unit trust administration services, for up to £4.6m. 15-Apr-2002 Compass is to acquire Gruppo Events, the provider of catering services at Somerset House in London, for up to £6.6m. 15-Apr-2002 Thomas Potts is to acquire Fairway Logistics, the Slough-based print management company with 78 staff. 11-Apr-2002 Richard Burbidge has acquired Atkinson Marketing, the Ormskirk-based timber company with 70 staff and annual turnover of £9m, for undisclosed terms. 11-Apr-2002 Rotax International, the Sheffield-based scalpel and surgical blade manufacturer, has undergone a £1m management buy-out from Maersk Medical of Denmark, securing 90 jobs. 11-Apr-2002 Deloitte & Touche has reached agreement to acquire the UK arm of Andersen, which will involve the transfer of 383 partners and 5,000 staff. 11-Apr-2002 IFG Group is to expand its financial services business through the acquisition of IPS Pensions, the Bristol-based provider of actuarial and pension services, for up to £15m. 11-Apr-2002 Pennon has acquired Richardson, the St Helens-based glass reclamation company with a nationwide network of depots, for £12m, in order to expand its Viridor Waste subsidiary. 10-Apr-2002 Capcon Holdings has acquired Vincent Sherman, the insurance fraud investigation business with 43 staff, for up to £0.5m. 10-Apr-2002 PHS Group has acquired Teacrate, the crate rental company with 106 staff at depots in London, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and Edinburgh, for £15m. 10-Apr-2002 Dechra Pharmaceuticals is to acquire North Western Laboratories of Lancashire and its Cambridge Specialist Laboratory Services subsidiary for £2.8m, in order to expand its veterinary pharmaceuticals business. 10-Apr-2002 Aortech is to acquire the critical care operations of Becton Dickinson of the US, which manufactures monitoring devices and catheters and includes a factory in Singapore, for £36m. 10-Apr-2002 Project Telecom has acquired TW Telecom, the Manchester-based mobile telecoms company with 15,000 customers, for undisclosed terms. 10-Apr-2002 United Drug has acquired New Splint, the Hampshire-based supplier of medical devices, for £7m. 09-Apr-2002 Ulster Television is to acquire Treaty Radio, the Irish radio broadcaster, for £10m. 09-Apr-2002 Warthog has acquired 42-Bit, the Swedish computer games developer, for £0.4m. 09-Apr-2002 Lastminute.com has acquired TravelSelect.com, the London-based online travel company, for £12m. 09-Apr-2002 BOC Edwards is to sell its US glass coating business to Von Ardenne Anlagentechnik of Germany, which will involve the transfer of about 70 staff. 08-Apr-2002 Rexam is to sell its Image Products coated films and papers business to Sun Capital of the US for £42m. 08-Apr-2002 BP Chemicals is to sell its Performance Films packaging business, including plants in Barnsley and Poland with more than 400 staff, to Parkside Flexibles of West Yorkshire for undisclosed terms. 05-Apr-2002 Alliance UniChem has acquired Holtung, the Norwegian pharmaceuticals wholesaler, for about £4m. 04-Apr-2002 Shell is to acquire Enterprise Oil, the exploration company operating in the North Sea, Norway and the Gulf of Mexico, for £3.5bn, and up to 400 jobs will be lost at Enterprise's offices in London and Aberdeen. 03-Apr-2002 Simoco Digital has sold its terminals business out of administration to Kelso Place Asset Management, which will involve the transfer of 76 Cambridge-based staff and a change of name to Sepura. 02-Apr-2002 TeCmail has acquired Inchbrook, the printing company, for undisclosed terms, taking its annual turnover to more than £40m. 02-Apr-2002 Advanced Medical Solutions is to acquire MedLogic, the Plymouth-based manufacturer of medical grade adhesives for the wound closure market, for £2.5m, and has also announced a £4m rights issue. 29-Mar-2002 Le Riche has acquired Channel Rentals, Channel Publications and Trade Advisory Business Service from ComProp for £1.7m, in order to expand its electronics retailing and publishing business in the Channel Islands. 29-Mar-2002 Semple Cochrane has sold its Aberdeen-based marine electrical business to management for £0.1m. 29-Mar-2002 Amberley is to sell DS Companies, the manufacturer of water-based coatings, press room chemicals and adhesives in Germany and Sweden, to Fuji Hunt for £13m, thereby completing the disposal of all trading subsidiaries. 29-Mar-2002 Smith & Nephew has sold its Rehabilitation business to AbilityOne of the US for £87m, creating a leading supplier of rehabilitation products to hospitals with operations in Kirkby, France and the US. 29-Mar-2002 Thales has sold its Somerset-based fisheries vessel monitoring systems business to a management buy-out under the name of BlueFinger. 28-Mar-2002 Javelin Systems Europe and Jade Communications have undergone a management buy-out from US parent Aspeon, creating a combined retail technology business with about 80 staff in the North West. 28-Mar-2002 Microcomputing, the Washington-based IT solutions company, has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms. 28-Mar-2002 Serco Railtest has acquired the Glasgow-based rail grinding subsidiary of Schweerbau, in order to help deliver its contract with Railtrack. 28-Mar-2002 Artisan is to sell Speymill Contracts, the provider of property refurbishment services, to Wigmore Group for £4m. 27-Mar-2002 Arcolectric is to acquire Otehall Switches, the Haywards Heath-based manufacturer of micro switches, and related company Otehall Tooling for a total £1.7m. 27-Mar-2002 Shell is to acquire Pennzoil-Quaker State, the US lubricants company, for £1.2bn. 27-Mar-2002 Wessex Water, the water company owned by failed US energy trader Enron, is to be acquired by YTL Corp of Malaysia for £1.24bn. 26-Mar-2002 Cadbury Schweppes is to acquire Nantucket Allserve, the US soft drinks company with annual sales of £42m, for undisclosed terms. 26-Mar-2002 CD Bramall is set to acquire Quicks, the Ford car dealer, for £40m. 26-Mar-2002 Innovation Group has acquired Midas IT Services, the Kent-based provider of IT hosting services to the insurance industry, for £4m. 26-Mar-2002 De La Rue is to acquire the banking automation business of Papelaco, the Portugal-based manufacturer of self-service banking technology, for £16m. 26-Mar-2002 Anite has acquired Ideal Technology Services, the Manchester-based provider of software and consultancy services to local authorities, for £5m. 26-Mar-2002 Synergy Healthcare is planning to acquire the Hays Clinical Support Services division of Hays Commercial Services, which provides instrument decontamination and sterilisation services to hospitals, for £11m. 26-Mar-2002 Amberley is to sell its Metacol colourant and pigment operations to ColorMatrix Europe and British Vita for £2.2m. 25-Mar-2002 I-documentsystems is to acquire The Planning Exchange, the Glasgow-based supplier of information services to local authorities, for about £1m. 25-Mar-2002 Coppice Alupack, the Bridgend-based manufacturer of aluminium and board containers for the food industry with annual turnover of £18m, has undergone a management buy-out. 25-Mar-2002 Burton's Foods has acquired Biscuit Makers, the Irish manufacturer of Kelly's cookies. 25-Mar-2002 Alchemy Partners is supporting the £24m management buy-out of two staff recruitment companies - Right4Staff of Portsmouth and Draefern of Chesterfield - from AHL Services of the US. 25-Mar-2002 Innogy, the electricity supplier, has agreed to a £3.1bn takeover offer from RWE of Germany. 22-Mar-2002 Invensys is to sell its flow control business to Flowserve of the US for £376m, in order to focus on factory automation and energy management. 22-Mar-2002 Halyard has acquired Sabre Fabrications, the Poole-based manufacturer of marine exhaust components, for undisclosed terms. 22-Mar-2002 Parkdean has acquired the Ruda Holiday Park near Ilfracombe in Devon for an undisclosed sum thought to be about £12m, taking its chain of holiday parks to 12. 21-Mar-2002 Jessgrove of Bradford has merged with London-based UK Linings to create a combined £20m textiles business with 60 staff at offices in Bradford, Leeds, London and Austria. 21-Mar-2002 Enterprise Inns is acquiring 4,000 Unique and Voyager pubs from Nomura in a £2bn leveraged buy-out, as part of a consortium with Cinven, Legal & General Ventures and Princes Gate Investors. 21-Mar-2002 Hydrex, the construction equipment supplier, has undergone a £15m management buy-out funded by Bridgepoint Capital, and is now looking to expand into the North and Scotland. 21-Mar-2002 Aga Foodservice is to acquire Domain Home Fashions, the US supplier of home furnishings, for £18m, in order to expand sales of its cookers in East Coast retail markets. 20-Mar-2002 GUS is to acquire ConsumerInfo.com, the US supplier of online credit reports, from Homestore.com for £86m, in order to expand its Experian North America business. 20-Mar-2002 Balfour Beatty has acquired Kentons, the Yorkshire-based utility services contractor, for £28m. 20-Mar-2002 Hunting has acquired Roforge, the French manufacturer of industrial valves, for £4.2m. 20-Mar-2002 SSL International has sold 21 over-the-counter pharmaceutical brands to Thornton & Ross for £13m, including some manufacturing equipment currently located at SSL's Guernsey and Peterlee sites. 20-Mar-2002 Youngs Bluecrest, the Grimsby-based fish processing company, is to be sold by Legal & General Ventures to a management buy-out for £137m. 20-Mar-2002 Capita Group has acquired Resource Management, the London-based provider of social workers, for £7.1m. 19-Mar-2002 Diageo is to sell its Glen Ellen wine business in the US to Franzia Winery for £58m. 19-Mar-2002 Aga Foodservice is to sell its Leisure and Flavel cooker brands to BEKO UK for up to £5.4m. 18-Mar-2002 Lighthouse Group is to acquire BWA, the Exeter-based network of almost 200 independent financial advisers, in a £2.1m deal. 18-Mar-2002 Eley Metrology has acquired Crown Windley, the Ripley-based manufacturer of measuring equipment, for undisclosed terms. 18-Mar-2002 John Brown and Citrus are to merge their contract publishing businesses to create a combined group called John Brown Citrus, and Citrus will relocate to John Brown's offices in west London. 15-Mar-2002 Fabdec, the Ellesmere-based dairy equipment manufacturer, has undergone a management buy-out from US parent DEC International. 15-Mar-2002 Tomos Watkin, the Llansamlet-based brewery, is undergoing a management buy-out for undisclosed terms. 15-Mar-2002 Numerica has acquired Practice Track, the Bristol-based supplier of marketing services to accountancy firms, for £1m. 14-Mar-2002 Hackman Printers has acquired Caerphilly-based South Western Printers to create a new group called HSW Printers, and the combined workforce is expected to rise from 85 to 100 over the next year. 14-Mar-2002 BPB is to acquire the US wallboard division of James Hardie Industries for £243m, partly funded by a £107m share placing. 14-Mar-2002 Johnston Press has acquired Regional Independent Media, the local newspaper publisher, for £560m, partly funded by a £220m rights issue. 13-Mar-2002 Tibbett & Britten is to acquire Dimalsa, the Mexican logistics business, for an initial £42m, and has also announced the acquisition of a 38% stake in Davids Distribution of Thailand for £3m. 13-Mar-2002 Wembley is to sell its Keith Prowse hospitality business to management for £5.5m, in order to focus on its racetrack and gaming operations. 13-Mar-2002 Rok Property Solutions is to acquire City Estates, the Southampton-based commercial property developer, for £0.8m. 12-Mar-2002 Millfield has acquired Moncur Jackson & Associates, the Newcastle upon Tyne-based employee benefits business, for up to £2.2m. 12-Mar-2002 Ingenta is to acquire Heron, the supplier of online educational course packs created by Stirling, Napier and South Bank Universities, for about £0.3m. 12-Mar-2002 IMI has sold its Eley Hawk cartridges business to Union Explosivosos Espanol of Spain for £1.6m, and is now looking to sell its building products and plastic pipes division to management for up to £300m. 12-Mar-2002 Hawtin has acquired Sport Engineering and Lifestyle Engineering for £0.9m, in order to expand its Powersport fitness equipment manufacturing business. 11-Mar-2002 Hercules Property Services has acquired Gross Fine, the London residential property management company, for up to £13m. 11-Mar-2002 Propan Homes is to acquire Sitemaster, the residential property company with property assets valued at £19m. 11-Mar-2002 Hartest has acquired the instrumentation business of HW Wallace for £0.1m, in order to expand its Sheen Instruments division. 11-Mar-2002 Rutland Trust has sold its interests in Coppice Group, the Bridgend-based manufacturer of aluminium foil containers, to a new company called MELH 888 for £4.6m. 11-Mar-2002 JJB Sports is to acquire TJ Hughes, the chain of 36 discount department stores, for £42m. 11-Mar-2002 Scottish Power has announced plans to sell Southern Water to a newly-created investment vehicle called First Aqua for £2.05bn, which is expected to lead to a follow-on sale to Vivendi of France. 11-Mar-2002 Fitness First has acquired an 85% stake in the Just for Ladies chain of fitness clubs. 11-Mar-2002 Imperial Tobacco is to acquire Reemtsma, the German cigarette manufacturer, for £3.5bn. 08-Mar-2002 Middlesex Holdings is to acquire Petrol Express, the petrol retailing company with 47 forecourts, and has also announced plans to sell its Russian steel trading business. 08-Mar-2002 Shiloh is to acquire Care & Mobility, the Essex-based supplier of mobility aids, for £1.6m. 07-Mar-2002 Compass is to acquire Bon Appetit Management, the US foodservice company based in California, for £114m. 07-Mar-2002 Numerica is to acquire the non-audit business of Leicester-based Pole Arnold in a £4.2m deal. 07-Mar-2002 Guiton Group, the publisher of newspapers in the Channel Islands, has sold its commercial printing business to J Howitt & Son for £1.1m. 07-Mar-2002 Aggregate Industries has acquired Essex-based Bradwell Aggregates and Chester-based Littler Readymix. 07-Mar-2002 French has sold its curtain styling business to Hallco 707 for £0.3m. 06-Mar-2002 Coutts Consulting is to be acquired by Right Management Consultants, the US recruitment firm, for £74m. 06-Mar-2002 Brake Bros has acquired two French regional catering wholesalers - Bianchi Gers and PSM Jarny - for £14m. 05-Mar-2002 George Wimpey has sold Alfred McAlpine Homes Cumbria to Centaur Homes for £16m. 05-Mar-2002 Cybit has acquired certain assets of Fleetstar Information Systems, the vehicle fleet management system, from Trafficmaster for £1.5m. 04-Mar-2002 Retail Decisions has acquired Paymentplus, the US supplier of payment card fraud prevention services, for £1.6m. 04-Mar-2002 Tribal Group has acquired Secta Group, the healthcare consultancy with 60 staff at offices in Southampton, London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Wakefield, for £8.6m. 04-Mar-2002 National Schoolwear Centres, the chain of 26 school wear stores, is to undergo a £0.8m management buy-out, and about 12 new outlets will open each year. 04-Mar-2002 Alfred McAlpine has acquired Stiell, the facilities management company with 1,200 staff at offices in Glasgow, Manchester, London and Belfast, for £85m. 04-Mar-2002 Ardagh is to acquire the Italian glass packaging operations of Consumers Packaging of Canada for £1.8m, and has also announced the closure of its Ringsend, Dublin, glass container plant. 01-Mar-2002 KBC Advanced Technologies has acquired Linnhoff March International of Manchester in a £2.8m deal, in order to expand its energy efficiency and clean fuels service to the hydrocarbon processing industry. 28-Feb-2002 BC Partners has acquired Galbani, the Italian cheese and salami company, from Danone for £610m, and may now seek further acquisitions in the European cheese market. 28-Feb-2002 Allied Domecq has bought the Malibu rum brand from Diageo for £560m, and has also acquired Mumm Cuvee Napa, the US sparkling wine company, for £27m. 28-Feb-2002 Synstar is selling its Swiss computer maintenance business to Itris, which will involve the transfer of 41 staff. 27-Feb-2002 PizzaExpress has acquired the Kettners restaurant in Soho, London, for £2m, and has also announced the acquisition of five Gourmet Pizza and Riviera restaurants, also for £2m. 26-Feb-2002 Linpac has sold its Cwmbran-based welded products division, which manufactures aerosols used to store glues and solvent, to management for £0.5m, securing 20 jobs. 26-Feb-2002 Quiltex has acquired Early's, the Witney-based blanket manufacturer, and is shedding 12 sales and administration jobs in order to leave a workforce of 70. 26-Feb-2002 Norman Hay has acquired PMD Engineering from the PMD Group, and will relocate some of the business from Coventry to its Plasticraft division at the Cannock Process Engineering Centre. 25-Feb-2002 Strathmore Hotels has undergone a £2.5m management buy-out, and the chain of six hotels is now seeking acquisitions in conference locations such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, York and Chester. 25-Feb-2002 Centrica is in negotiations to acquire NewPower, the US energy trader, for £87m, in order to gain a further 650,000 North American customers. 25-Feb-2002 United Industries has sold its components and systems division to OSL Group for £6.2m, in order to focus on technical plastics. 22-Feb-2002 Freeway Software, the Wigan-based developer of payroll software, has been acquired by IRIS for an estimated £8m. 22-Feb-2002 Cadbury Schweppes has acquired a 51% stake in Kent Gida, the Turkish sugar confectionery company, for £90m. 22-Feb-2002 Lookers has acquired 452 (Birmingham) from Vauxhall Motor and the Rystar Aston and Selly Oak Vauxhall outlets from Ryland Group for a total £2m. 21-Feb-2002 Range Cylinders, the Wakefield-based manufacturer of hot water cylinders with 112 staff, has been sold by the Baxi Group to RCM for undisclosed terms. 21-Feb-2002 Spirent has sold its aerospace components business to Curtiss-Wright of the US for £42m, in order to reduce debt and focus on its network technology operations. 21-Feb-2002 Tate & Lyle is looking to sell its North American molasses operations, including United Molasses, UM North America and United Storage. 21-Feb-2002 VIP-Heinke, the Huntingdon-based manufacturer of rubber and plastic seals with 200 staff, has been acquired by a consortium including Close Brothers Private Equity and the management team of Grove Industries. 20-Feb-2002 Hanson is to sell HBcE, its European brick manufacturing business, to Wienerberger for £39m. 20-Feb-2002 Taylor Woodrow has sold the UK tower crane hire business of Taywood Plant to Kier Plant for £2.4m, in order to focus on housing, property, construction and engineering. 19-Feb-2002 Gresham Trust has sold John Hampden Press, the manufacturer of branded retailer packaging with 125 staff, to management for £2.6m, and the business is being renamed John Hampden Packaging. 19-Feb-2002 Jubb has acquired Barclay Stuart Plastics, the Luton-based manufacturer of bottles and caps, and the two businesses will be combined onto its Leicester site. 19-Feb-2002 Gamma Global, the distributor of computer equipment with 40 staff at sales offices in Manchester, Birmingham, London and Italy, has been sold to management for undisclosed terms. 19-Feb-2002 McDonald's has sold 26 of its Aroma coffee bars to Caffe Nero for about £3.5m, taking the Caffe Nero chain to more than 100. 19-Feb-2002 Simon is to acquire Forthline, the operator of container services between Grangemouth and Rotterdam, from Forth Ports for £0.3m, and the business will be combined with its Seawheel European network. 18-Feb-2002 Stadium Group has sold its Consumer Products Division, which distributes branded automotive and furniture products, to management for £1m. 18-Feb-2002 BFD Group has acquired Crowson's & Sons, the cheese supplier, gaining access to warehouse space in Cheltenham and catering customers in London. 18-Feb-2002 Oystertec is to acquire Europower, the manufacturer of fluid and gas hoses, for £12m, funded by a £10m share placing. 15-Feb-2002 John Menzies Aviation Group is to acquire Fr8, the Dutch cargo handling company with 440 staff at Schiphol and Rotterdam airports, for £4.8m. 15-Feb-2002 Scottish & Newcastle is to acquire Hartwall, the Finnish beer and soft drinks company, for £1.2bn, gaining a 50% stake in Russia's leading brewer Baltic Beverages Holdings. 15-Feb-2002 Smith & Nephew is to acquire Oratec Interventions, the US developer of radio frequency technology for minimally invasive surgery, for £220m. 15-Feb-2002 Compass has acquired the Castle Independent school meals business, which includes 2,500 staff across the country, from Castle View for undisclosed terms. 15-Feb-2002 Manheim Auctions has acquired Tyne Tees Motor Auctions and will relocate the business to its 15-acre site in Washington. 15-Feb-2002 Michelin's ATS subsidiary has sold WSTyremasters to Stapleton's Tyre Services for undisclosed terms, which will involve the transfer of six tyre distribution centres. 15-Feb-2002 International Moving Company has acquired T&S Transport of Edinburgh, creating a national network of removals branches with 123 staff, and is now seeking further acquisitions in North London and the north-east of England. 15-Feb-2002 Lowdham Leisure has acquired the Countrywide caravan dealership in Huddersfield from Hull-based Adam Dale Industries for undisclosed terms. 15-Feb-2002 Johnston Carmichael has acquired the Aberdeen accountancy practice of HLB Kidsons for undisclosed terms. 15-Feb-2002 Lawrence is to acquire Ringpress Publishing, the pet books publisher, for up to £3.4m, and the enlarged publishing division may be sold off at a later date in order to focus on animal health care and feed additives. 14-Feb-2002 Molins is to acquire Arista Laboratories, the US analytical company with a smoke testing facility in Virginia, for up to £3m. 14-Feb-2002 WH Smith has sold its Helicon online reference publishing business to RM for £0.7m. 14-Feb-2002 Viking Industrial Products, the supplier of adhesives, abrasives and packaging materials, has acquired Industrial & Safety Supplies of Leeds, creating a combined group with turnover of more than £3m. 14-Feb-2002 Cranesafe, the Guildford-based crane equipment supplier, has been acquired by SMIE of France. 14-Feb-2002 David Webster has acquired Parkersell Highway Lighting Services of London for undisclosed terms. 14-Feb-2002 Denco, the Hereford-based air conditioning company, has acquired Amec's mobile services operation, which has 107 staff, for under £1m. 14-Feb-2002 Mitie Powered Access has undergone a £1.9m management buy-out, and its five branches are being rebranded as The Platform Company. 14-Feb-2002 Greenwoods Communications has acquired Telecom Protection Technologies, the manufacturer of hardware and software to protect against electrical surges in telecom equipment with annual turnover of £2.5m. 13-Feb-2002 Midas Metal Finishes has bought the assets of CR Plating, the recently-closed Coventry-based plating company, for undisclosed terms, saving some of the 20 jobs. 13-Feb-2002 Cobbetts, the Manchester law firm, is to merge with Read Hind Stewart of Leeds in May, creating a combined group with 67 partners. 13-Feb-2002 Sytner, the Leicester-based prestige car dealership, is to be acquired by United Auto Group of the US for £95m. 13-Feb-2002 EPL Access, the chain of eight powered access hire branches, has undergone a management buy-out from John Laing. 13-Feb-2002 Johnson Matthey has acquired Avocado Research Chemicals, the Heysham-based manufacturer of organic compounds for research laboratories with 70 staff, for an initial £25m. 12-Feb-2002 Headlam has acquired the trading assets of the UK floor covering distribution business of Rikett AS of Norway for an initial £0.3m. 12-Feb-2002 Scottish Radio Holdings is to acquire the Longford Leader Group, the publisher of regional newspapers in Ireland, for £5.6m. 12-Feb-2002 Tribal Group has acquired FD Learning, the Sheffield-based provider of IT services to the education sector, for £7.4m, and Hipkins, the property services company, for £0.7m. 12-Feb-2002 DCC is to acquire TechnoPharm, the Irish pharmaceuticals distributor, for up to £10m, in order to expand its hospital supplies business. 12-Feb-2002 Service Corporation International of the US has sold UK-based Dignity Caring Funeral Services to a management team backed by HSBC Private Equity for £220m. 12-Feb-2002 KBC Advanced Technologies has acquired Petroleum Economics, the energy economics consultancy, for £2m. 11-Feb-2002 Northern Electric has sold its wind power business to London Electricity for £3.5m, including turbines in Northumberland and County Durham and the right to build a £60m offshore windfarm near Hartlepool. 11-Feb-2002 Microgen has acquired OST, the IT services company, for up to £20m, partly funded by a £4.3m share placing. 11-Feb-2002 Affinitas has acquired the Armed Forces Financial Advisory Service from insurance broker Willis, and is now seeking similar acquisitions. 08-Feb-2002 Smart & Cook has acquired Lanarkshire-based Lewis Wotherspoon in order to expand its Scottish insurance brokerage. 08-Feb-2002 London Scottish Bank has acquired Sterling Direct Finance, the Southend-based secured lending broker, for an initial £5.8m. 08-Feb-2002 Quarto has bought the publishing assets of Marshall Editions, Marshall Developments and Marshall Publishing out of administration for up to £1.2m, gaining a backlist of 300 titles. 08-Feb-2002 Aegis has acquired Market & More, the European market research company with operations in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and France, for an initial £3.6m. 08-Feb-2002 Hercules Property Services has acquired DOR Northern, the Macclesfield-based housing association property insurance broker, for up to £4m. 08-Feb-2002 A&J Scott is to create up to 100 jobs over the next two years at its new timber pallet manufacturing plant in North Shields. 08-Feb-2002 Brook Crompton has sold Crompton Controls, the Wakefield-based manufacturer of electric starter motors, to management for undisclosed terms. 07-Feb-2002 Tate & Lyle has sold its sugar refining operations in Namibia and Zimbabwe to CBAQ of Botswana for £3.2m, as part of a strategy to focus on Europe and the US. 07-Feb-2002 Regent Inns has sold 13 unbranded pubs to Broken Foot Inns for an initial £5.6m. 07-Feb-2002 Bradfords Group has acquired the CE Curtis chain of five builders' merchants in the Plymouth area. 07-Feb-2002 BOC has reached agreement to acquire Seiko Instruments' turbo molecular pumps business in Japan for about £70m. 06-Feb-2002 Mouchel has acquired Metro Consulting, the London-based rail engineering company with 140 staff. 06-Feb-2002 Intelek is to acquire Sierra Networks' Satcom division for £3.5m, in order to expand its US-based Paradise Datacom communications technology business. 05-Feb-2002 Taylor Nelson Sofres has acquired the custom research division of Greenfield Online, in order to expand its TNS Intersearch business in the US. 05-Feb-2002 Baltimore Technologies is to sell its Japanese software subsidiary to management for £4.7m. 05-Feb-2002 Taylor Nelson Sofres is to acquire the broadcast monitoring division of BMC News, which has annual turnover of £1.9m, from Xtreme Group. 04-Feb-2002 Amersham Biosciences has acquired two filtration separation companies in the US - AG Technology and InnovaSep Technology - for up to £40m. 04-Feb-2002 AEA Technology has acquired Kinectrics, the Canadian power technology company, from Ontario Power Generation for £5.9m. 04-Feb-2002 Fulmar has acquired Quadracolor, the London-based printing company, for £2m, and has also announced plans to relocate its WE Baxter commercial printing business from Lewes to a vacant site at Mitcham in Surrey. 04-Feb-2002 Severfield-Rowen has acquired Tubemasters, the York-based structural fabricator, for £0.3m. 04-Feb-2002 Aggregate Industries has acquired Kennedy Asphalt from Alfred McAlpine for about £5m, in order to expand its asphalt and contracting services in the North West and West Midlands. 04-Feb-2002 Brandon Hire has acquired RJB Hire, the Kent-based tool hire business with five branches, and has also announced plans to open two new branches in Ashford and Wolverhampton to take its network to 93. 04-Feb-2002 Unidare is to sell its 80% stake in Oerlikon Welding Group, the distributor of welding products, to KoZo and Celtweld for £2.4m. 04-Feb-2002 Caspian Publishing has acquired Dennis & Beyond from Dennis Publishing, which will double the size of its contract publishing business. 01-Feb-2002 Inman & Partners is to merge with Summers of Newcastle upon Tyne to create a combined quantity surveying group with 10 offices and 180 employees. 31-Jan-2002 Teleconomy has acquired Net Profit, the London-based new media analyst and publishing company, and the headquarters for the combined group will be in Lancaster, where the present 80-strong workforce is expected to grow. 31-Jan-2002 Alexander Forbes is to acquire a 60% stake in Lane Clark & Peacock for £28m, in order to expand its consulting actuarial business in the UK. 31-Jan-2002 Ambion Brick is to merge with Chelwood Brick to create a combined brick making business with 11 plants, 700 employees and turnover of £60m. 31-Jan-2002 Smiths Group has sold its John Crane-Lips marine propulsion division to Wartsila of Finland for £215m, and has also announced the £17m acquisition of a US-based epidural kits business from Abbott Laboratories. 31-Jan-2002 British Vita has acquired Nolato Elastoteknik, the Swedish thermoplastic elastomer compounding company, for £5m. 30-Jan-2002 Royal Bank of Scotland has acquired the Italian direct motor insurance division of Royal & Sun Alliance for £12m, as part of a strategy to expand its Direct Line business into continental Europe. 30-Jan-2002 Chemex International is planning a reverse takeover of Independent Media Distribution, the London-based supplier of content to radio stations, and its current business operations will be sold to Deangate Investments. 29-Jan-2002 Intec Telecom Systems is to acquire the operational support systems business of ICL for £2.8m, and the two companies have also announced a worldwide partnering agreement with ICL offering Intec's mediation and billing software to telecoms customers. 29-Jan-2002 Egg is to acquire Zebank, the French online financial business, for £23m, and will invest a further £100m on its expansion into continental Europe over the next three years. 29-Jan-2002 Kingfisher is to sell Time Retail Finance, its Leeds-based financial services operation, to GE Capital for £149m, as part of a strategy to focus on DIY and electrical retailing. 29-Jan-2002 Rowe & Maw, the corporate law firm, has agreed terms for a merger with Mayer Brown & Platt of the US, creating a combined group called Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw with revenues of £480m. 29-Jan-2002 Centrica is to acquire the household heating services division of Enbridge, the Canadian energy distribution group, for £437m. 29-Jan-2002 Unilever has sold Cremanaze, the Kent-based sauces and dressings manufacturer with 30 staff, in order to focus on key brands. 28-Jan-2002 Needler Bluebird has been acquired by Ashbury Confectionery of Corby to create a combined confectionery business with turnover of £25m. 28-Jan-2002 Arko Energy has agreed a £15m reverse takeover by Chang Zhou Power Development Company, the operator of a coal-fired power plant in China. 28-Jan-2002 Eurodis Electron, the electronic components distributor, is to sell its Swiss data division to Bechtle for £8.1m. 28-Jan-2002 Jarvis Porter has sold its Leeds-based labels business to CCL Industries for £7m, and has also announced plans to rename itself Grovebirch. 28-Jan-2002 Vodafone has raised £713m from the sale of its stake in the Telematik railway communications network in Germany. 28-Jan-2002 Norman Hay has acquired three Oldbury-based engineering businesses from ERG Environmental Resource Group - Lancy Water Engineering, ERG Process Plant and Ardox Engineering. 28-Jan-2002 MotionPoster is to acquire Metrocom for £5.2m, in order to expand its advertising business into the Far East. 28-Jan-2002 Fabricom Contracting is to acquire Caxios, the Chester-based engineering subsidiary of Enron, out of administration for undisclosed terms, saving 135 jobs. 28-Jan-2002 Hampton Trust is to acquire Broadhall, the Chepstow-based commercial property developer, for £2.2m. 28-Jan-2002 Tandem Group has acquired Ben Sayers, the East Lothian-based golf equipment manufacturer, from The Caledonian Golf Group for £1.1m. 25-Jan-2002 Baltimore Technologies has sold its Content Technologies e-mail security division to Clearswift for £21m. 25-Jan-2002 Claims Direct is to acquire Claimline, the personal injury claims specialist, for £1.5m, and has also announced plans to communicate with more customers by post rather than employing claims managers. 25-Jan-2002 Endsleigh Insurance Services, the operator of 129 insurance shops, is planning a management buy-out from Dutch-based Goudse for undisclosed terms. 24-Jan-2002 Biolife Ventures is planning a reverse takeover of Zimed, the North Wales-based developer of an intravenous drip monitoring device. 23-Jan-2002 McInerney Holdings has acquired Charlton Group, the Lancashire-based construction and property development company, for £8m. 22-Jan-2002 Wealth Management Software has sold its estate agency software business to management for £0.2m. 22-Jan-2002 PII Group, the Cramlington-based provider of pipeline inspection services with 1,000 staff worldwide, has been bought from HgCapital by GE Power Systems of the US for undisclosed terms. 22-Jan-2002 Hovat, the Kent-based food packaging company, has undergone a £3m management buy-out, and the subsequent acquisition of Ascom Addressing of Dartford will create one of the country's leading label printers. 22-Jan-2002 Interserve has sold West's Engineering Design of Darlington to a management buy-out for £3m, securing the future of 150 jobs. 22-Jan-2002 Yell has agreed to acquire McLeod US Publishing, the US directories business, for £414m. 22-Jan-2002 Napier Brown has sold its Express Products pizza manufacturing business in Lymington to management for £0.5m, and the business has been renamed Doughology. 21-Jan-2002 Argonaut Games has acquired Particle Systems, the Sheffield-based computer games developer with 40 staff, for £2.4m. 18-Jan-2002 Cambridge Antibody Technology is to acquire Drug Royalty Corporation of Canada for £55m. 18-Jan-2002 QuadraNet is to acquire Accronym Holdings, the developer of operational software for health clubs, for £1.5m. 17-Jan-2002 Aggreko has acquired Compressores Esteve, the Spanish generator rental company with net assets of £0.3m. 17-Jan-2002 Pubmaster has acquired Pub.com for £17m, taking its chain of Scottish pubs from 33 to 71, and is now in talks to buy another chain of 20 pubs for £5m. 17-Jan-2002 Smartlogik has bought Insight Technologies, the Surrey-based developer of knowledge capture software, out of administration for £0.3m. 16-Jan-2002 Aegis has acquired two US interactive media agencies for £1.9m - San Francisco-based Lot 21 and Massachusetts-based Vizium. 16-Jan-2002 Benlowe Group, which includes the Thomas Lowe staircase business and Bennett Windows, has undergone a £8m management buy-out. 16-Jan-2002 T Clarke has acquired GDI Electrical, the Manchester-based electrical contractor with 30 staff, for £1.6m. 15-Jan-2002 Exel has acquired All Cargo Logistics, the Austrian air freight forwarder operating from three sites in Vienna, Linz and Innsbruck. 15-Jan-2002 Tate & Lyle has sold East African Storage of Kenya to African Bulk Commodities and Tanzania Liquids Storage to Africa Tank Terminals, and the deals include assets worth £1.3m. 15-Jan-2002 IRevolution has sold Fund Management Services, the provider of software and services to the fund management sector, to Linedata Services for £0.7m. 15-Jan-2002 Park Lane Caledonian, the Glasgow-based property firm, has undergone a £10m management buy-out backed by Bank of Scotland. 15-Jan-2002 Bridgepoint Capital is to acquire Toman Group of Germany for £80m and merge the business with its IMO Car Wash operation, creating one of the world's largest car-wash operators with 800 sites in 12 European countries. 14-Jan-2002 Yorkshire Cottage Bakeries has bought Mother Hubbard Cakes, the Hyde-based manufacturer of cake bars, out of administration. 14-Jan-2002 Arrow Therapeutics has acquired Oxford Gene Technology in a deal estimated at £6m. 14-Jan-2002 Gibbs & Dandy has acquired Elliott & Co, the Oxfordshire-based builders merchant, for £2.1m. 11-Jan-2002 William Jacks has sold its Savernake Mercedes-Benz dealership in Newbury to Sytner Group for £1.5m and transferred the Sunningdale Carriage company in Sunningdale to the Greenoaks Maidenhead subsidiary of Sigma Holdings. 11-Jan-2002 Anite is to acquire Lorien Consulting, the Surrey-based IT and customer loyalty consultancy, from Lorien for up to £4.8m. 11-Jan-2002 Marconi has sold its Data Systems ink-jet printing business to Danaher Corporation of the US for £277m. 11-Jan-2002 Galen is selling Chemical Synthesis Services, a small-scale drug manufacturing business with 110 staff in Northern Ireland, to its founder for £25m. 11-Jan-2002 Invensys has sold the Integral Horsepower Motor division of Brook Crompton to Lindeteves-Jacoberg of Singapore for £17m. 10-Jan-2002 Centrica has acquired Iomart's broadband telecoms reselling business, which includes two customer service facilities and 40 staff, for £2m. 10-Jan-2002 United Business Media has acquired Cozint, the healthcare research and consulting group, from ZS Associates for £7m. 09-Jan-2002 WPP has acquired the media buying business of Purely Media in Manchester, and the 10 staff will be relocated to its nearby Mediaedge office. 09-Jan-2002 Hanson has acquired Centennial Concrete Pipe & Products of Canada from Lafarge for £41m, in order to strengthen its position in Ontario. 09-Jan-2002 Rotork has acquired Jordan Controls, the US supplier of valve actuators, for £7.2m. 09-Jan-2002 Halcrow has acquired TME Torpy, the former building services subsidiary of Enron, for undisclosed terms. 09-Jan-2002 Norwest Holst has acquired Crispin & Borst, the building contractor with 500 employees, for undisclosed terms, in order to improve its position in London. 09-Jan-2002 Exel has acquired USCL, the US provider of value-added freight consolidation services with net assets of £3.5m. 08-Jan-2002 Future Network has sold its Silver Shark magazine publishing business in Poland to Wydawnictwo H Bauer for £2m. 08-Jan-2002 Blue Edge Software, the developer of statistical software, has been acquired by Business Objects of the US for an estimated £4m. 08-Jan-2002 Screen has acquired Joyce-Loebl, the Gateshead-based developer of the SmartSeat entertainment system for trains and arenas, for £3.2m. 08-Jan-2002 Invensys is selling its power storage business, which includes 5,000 employees in nine countries, to EnerSys of the US for £348m. 08-Jan-2002 Sanctuary is to acquire Bravado International, the music licensing company, for an initial £7.8m. 08-Jan-2002 Hunting has acquired Moose Jaw Asphalt, the Canadian producer of asphaltic paving products, for £14m. 08-Jan-2002 Arthur Wood has acquired the Pristine Pottery Company of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, for a small sum, and will transfer the manufacturing operation to its Longport factory. 07-Jan-2002 Viking International, the Glasgow-based tyre distributor, and sister company National Tyre Service of Stockport have undergone an estimated £25m management buy-out from Continental of Germany, and a further 20 branches will be added to the 214-strong NTS network. 07-Jan-2002 Baker Tilly is planning to merge with HLB Kidsons to create a combined accountancy firm with about 300 partners and 2,000 staff. 07-Jan-2002 Palmer & Harvey McLane, the food and cigarette distributor, is planning a £165m management buy-out. 07-Jan-2002 Headlam has acquired the trade, stock and distribution rights of Georgian Carpets, the carpet supplier with annual turnover of £3m, and will relocate the business to its West Midlands distribution centre. 04-Jan-2002 Lookers is selling its SMAC Continental Mercedes-Benz dealership in Southend for about £5m. 04-Jan-2002 Lucent Technologies has sold an 80% stake in the Lucent New ventures Group to UK-based private equity firm Coller Capital for an estimated £66m. 04-Jan-2002 Games Workshop has acquired 85% of Sabertooth Games, the US producer of collectible card games, for £2m. 04-Jan-2002 Caffyns has acquired Skinners, the Eastbourne-based Volkswagen dealer, for £1.4m. 03-Jan-2002 British Vita has acquired Fabex, the Blackburn-based thermoplastic sheet manufacturer, for £3m, and will relocate the business to its site in Redhill. 03-Jan-2002 Babcock International has sold its cement handling business to Langley Holdings for £0.5m, and is now negotiating the sale of its AKI plasterboard drying equipment business. 03-Jan-2002 Brambles Industries has sold its US equipment rental business to National Equipment Services for £84m, and the proceeds will be used for bolt-on acquisitions and to boost capital spending. 03-Jan-2002 Cookson has sold its plastic moulding operations to four separate buyers for £38m, and the proceeds will be used to reduce debt. 03-Jan-2002 Speedy Hire is planning to buy Jewson's Hire Point network of 20 branches from Saint Gobain for £13m, increasing its chain of hire centres to more than 250. 03-Jan-2002 European Telecom has bought Philips' GSM handset distribution business in France for £0.3m. 03-Jan-2002 Apax Partners is to acquire Azimut, the fund management business of Italian bank Bipop-Carire for £230m. 02-Jan-2002 Brainspark, the internet investment company, has accepted a £5.2m takeover offer from Italian software company AI Software. 02-Jan-2002 PHS Group has acquired The UK Water Group, the supplier of plumbed-in drinking water systems, for £6.4m. 02-Jan-2002 The information on this page comes from the UK Activity Report. 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