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Bond Helicopters has sold its Rotortech maintenance division to IAP Group for undisclosed terms. 31-Dec-1998 Hays has acquired Axis Resources, the IT outsourcing company that was recently spun off from Tomkins, for up to £40m. 31-Dec-1998 WPP, the marketing services company, has bought Tyrell, the provider of computer-based production equipment, for undisclosed terms. 31-Dec-1998 Genosys, the Cambridge-based gene discovery company, has been sold to Sigma-Aldrich for £24m. 30-Dec-1998 ITE, the organiser of international trade shows, has acquired IEG-Solingen of Germany for £1.4m. 30-Dec-1998 Daily Mail & General Trust is acquiring Why Publications, the Midlands-based publisher of a free advertisement weekly, for £14m. 30-Dec-1998 Laird has acquired Bavaria Elektronic, the German manufacturer of electromagnetic interference shielding products, for £6m. 30-Dec-1998 Denmans Electrical Wholesale is acquiring Simpson & Paul, the operator of lighting and electrical supplies depots in Watford and High Wycombe. 29-Dec-1998 Markbeech Products has bought Cadec, the supplier of edible nuts and ingredients to the bakery and confectionery industries, from the Harrington Food Group. 29-Dec-1998 Plysu is acquiring the bottles and closures business of BP Chemicals for a nominal sum. 29-Dec-1998 Dalkeith Inns, the cash shell, is to reverse into Expertise Group, the operator of IT training centres, in a £4.2m deal. 28-Dec-1998 Vosper Thornycroft has acquired TSS, the Oxfordshire-based maker of electronic instruments for the marine survey market, for £11m. 26-Dec-1998 Royal & Sun Alliance is acquiring Financial Structures of Bermuda from Pitney Bowes Credit for £16m. 26-Dec-1998 GEC has agreed a £1.8bn deal to merge its space satellite operations with those of Lagardere of France, Daimler-Chrysler Aerospace of Germany, Alenia Spazio of Italy and British Aerospace. 24-Dec-1998 Asprey & Garrard has sold the Mappin & Webb and Watches of Switzerland chains to a management team for undisclosed terms, as part of a strategy to dispose of non-core businesses. 24-Dec-1998 Pendragon is to acquire Evans Halshaw for £84m and claims that the deal will create the UK's largest car retailer by turnover. 24-Dec-1998 Body Shop International is acquiring its German franchise operator Cosmo Trading for £7m, and plans to double the size of the operation over the next few years. 24-Dec-1998 Vardon is selling its tourist attractions division, which includes 23 Sea Life centres and the London and York Dungeons, to a management team for £47m. 24-Dec-1998 Powell Duffryn has acquired Kvaerner Ships Equipment, the manufacturer of cargo-handling equipment, for £24m, and will merge it with its Hamworthy Marine division. 24-Dec-1998 Laporte is to sell its hygiene chemicals division to management for £31m, which means its disposals programme is nearly complete. 24-Dec-1998 BCH, the vehicle management company, is being acquired by ALD of Germany in a £40m deal. 24-Dec-1998 Banner Homes, the housebuilder, is being sold to a management buyout for £23m. 24-Dec-1998 City Gourmets is acquiring Newultra, the owner of six coffee shops operating under the Rendezvous name, for £1.2m. 24-Dec-1998 Aggregate Industries is acquiring Bill Smith Sand & Gravel, the Michigan-based building materials company, for £32m. 23-Dec-1998 Vision, the manufacturer of imaging semiconductors, is being acquired by ST Microelectronics of Paris for £23m. 23-Dec-1998 NTL is acquiring the telecommunications business of Eastern Group for £91m, which will give it a fibre optic network covering the south and east of England as well as 121 mobile phone radio masts in East Anglia. 23-Dec-1998 SBF Agrico has been set up to create one of Scotland's biggest farm machinery manufacturers and dealers by acquiring Oldmeldrum-based George Sellar & Son, Rothienorman-based Fraser Agricultural and Markinch-based A&J Bowen, in a £5m deal. 22-Dec-1998 Rugby Group is selling Pioneer Plastics, its US laminates business, to Panolam Industries for £105m. 22-Dec-1998 Swiss Re is to acquire Fox-Pitt Kelton Group, the London-based investment banking boutique, for undisclosed terms. 22-Dec-1998 Guardian iT is acquiring the mainframe disaster recovery business of Debis Systemhaus of Germany for £5m. 22-Dec-1998 CRH of Ireland has acquired a 50.7% stake in Ibstock, in a deal that values the UK brick maker at £326m. 22-Dec-1998 Rexam is selling its corrugated board business to SCA of Sweden for £195m, and will now look to sell the remaining operations in its industrial packaging division. 22-Dec-1998 Firth Rixson has acquired the Sheffield steel group TW Pearson for £4.6m. 21-Dec-1998 Bearing Power, the power transmissions company, is being acquired by Mining & Allied Investments for £6.3m. 21-Dec-1998 Environmental Property Services is to acquire RLH, the supplier of building maintenance services to local authorities in London, for £1.1m. 21-Dec-1998 Charriol has announced a reverse takeover of Virtual Internet, the supplier of internet hosting services, in a £15m deal. 21-Dec-1998 Crowe Insurance Group, the Lloyd's independent managing agency, is to be acquired by Stockton Reinsurance of Bermuda for undisclosed terms. 19-Dec-1998 Granada has sold its Air Travel Group tour operator business to Thomson Travel Group for £20m. 19-Dec-1998 Logica has expanded its telecommunications business with the acquisition of two companies - Aethos Communication Systems for £47m and DDV Group for £16m. 19-Dec-1998 DCS is acquiring Logistics Application Software, the Dutch software company, for about £7m. 19-Dec-1998 Ben Shaws, the Huddersfield-based soft drinks company, has been acquired by Chaudfontaine Distribution of Belgium in a £22m deal, and has also announced plans for a new £2m bottling plant. 17-Dec-1998 WT Foods has announced a reverse takeover of Noon, the supplier of Indian foods, in a £50m deal. 17-Dec-1998 Rathbone Brothers is acquiring Curzon Secretaries & Trustees, the Jersey-based trust and company management concern, for an initial £5m. 17-Dec-1998 Zergo, the computer security company, is acquiring Baltimore Technologies of Dublin, in a £35m deal. 17-Dec-1998 AEA Technology is selling its Dorset-based specialist instrumentation business to Packard BioScience Company of the US for £6.9m. 16-Dec-1998 Woodvale Estates is acquiring City Site Estates, the Glasgow property group, for £4.4m. 16-Dec-1998 Rexam has had its £379m takeover bid for PLM accepted by the Swedish packaging group. 16-Dec-1998 Emap has launched a £720m takeover bid for Petersen Companies, which will enable it to achieve its ambition of entering the US magazine market. 16-Dec-1998 Misys is to acquire C-ATS Software, the US supplier of risk management software, for $60m. 15-Dec-1998 National Grid is to acquire New England Electric System, the US electricity group, for $3.2bn, as part of a strategy to generate more than 20% of its sales from outside the domestic power transmission sector. 14-Dec-1998 European Metal Recycling has acquired Lloyds Metal Processors, the Salford-based scrap metal company, for undisclosed terms. 14-Dec-1998 Peterhouse Group is to acquire Jackson Group, the civil engineering company, for £18m. 12-Dec-1998 CVC Capital Partners is planning to acquire 50% of Wavin, the Dutch plastic pipes company, from Shell Petroleum for about £225m. 12-Dec-1998 Cadbury Schweppes has agreed to sell its non-US soft drinks businesses to Coca-Cola for £1.12bn, and the proceeds will be used to expand its confectionery operations around the world. 12-Dec-1998 Terinex has acquired Le Gem, the Leicester-based supplier of paper products, cling film and aluminium foil, for undisclosed terms. 11-Dec-1998 Granada is acquiring Artist Services, the Australian programme maker, in order to obtain a base to expand into the southern hemisphere. 11-Dec-1998 Renold is to acquire Jones & Shipman, the abrasive machine tools company, for £5m. 11-Dec-1998 Avis Europe is acquiring 3 Arrows, the provider of replacement cars for people involved in non-fault car accidents, for £40m. 11-Dec-1998 Bupa is acquiring Barbican Healthcare, the operator of dental practices, for £23m. 11-Dec-1998 Tricom Supplies, the heating and plumbing products company, has been bought by management from parent group Mannesmann. 10-Dec-1998 Waterloo Air Management has bought Advanced Climate Technology, the Littlehampton-based ventilation firm that was on the brink of closure, for undisclosed terms. 10-Dec-1998 Begbies Traynor, the Manchester-based corporate recovery concern, is merging with Leonard Curtis & Associates of Brighton. 10-Dec-1998 Irish Life and Irish Permanent have announced terms for a £2.5bn merger, which will enable them to provide a one-stop shop for a wide range of financial services. 10-Dec-1998 Ockham Holdings, the Lloyd's insurance company, is to merge with New London Capital, in a deal that values New London at £51m. 10-Dec-1998 ICI's Quest International subsidiary is selling its Natural Colours operation in Ireland to Christian Hansen of Denmark for £33m. 10-Dec-1998 Greenalls has announced the sale of 1,241 franchised and tenanted pubs to Nomura International for £370m, and will invest some of the proceeds in its hotel and health club businesses. 10-Dec-1998 Zeneca is to merge with Astra of Sweden in a £21bn deal, and the new group will have a London headquarters with the main R&D centre being in Sweden. 10-Dec-1998 Guiton Group of Jersey and the Guernsey Press Company are to merge to create a combined newspaper group for the Channel Islands. 10-Dec-1998 Peter's Food Services, the South Wales company recently bought out from Grand Metropolitan, has bought the food distribution company Early Bird and ham-maker JV Rowe of Tenby. 09-Dec-1998 MPI, the Derby-based mortgage broker that is part of Bishopscourt Financial Holdings, has acquired Profile Financial Services for undisclosed terms. 09-Dec-1998 Ascot is acquiring Haltermann, the German provider of chemical processing services, for £90m. 09-Dec-1998 Simon has acquired Seawheel Holdings, the provider of cargo transportation services, for up to £14m. 09-Dec-1998 Plasmon, the data storage company, is acquiring Philips LMS from Royal Philips Electronics for up to £16m. 09-Dec-1998 Carclo Engineering has bought the Combined Optical Industries division of Quadramatic for £11m, in order to expand its coin handling business. 08-Dec-1998 Aggreko is acquiring the rental business of the US cooling tower manufacturer Tower Tech for £8m. 08-Dec-1998 Bullough has sold three refrigeration businesses to Hubbard Taylor for £17m, in order to focus on the expansion of its specialist engineering business. 08-Dec-1998 Scottish Power is to merge with PacifiCorp, the US electricity utility, in a £4.2bn deal, and the combined business will be named Scottish Power and based in Glasgow. 08-Dec-1998 GKN has acquired Interlake, the US manufacturer of powdered metals and aerospace components, for £335m. 08-Dec-1998 Hillsdown is selling its Ross Breeders poultry business to the venture capitalist BC Partners for £100m, but is no longer actively looking to sell its potato packing business. 08-Dec-1998 Planit Holdings is acquiring Cabinet Vision, the US software company, for £6m. 07-Dec-1998 John Wood Group of Aberdeen has sold its fire and safety division to Wormald Ansul for undisclosed terms. 07-Dec-1998 Taylor Woodrow has sold its windfarm business First Windfarm to Westbury Windfarms, the joint venture between Foras Energy and International Wind Projects, for £5m. 04-Dec-1998 Dollond & Aitchison, the chain of opticians, is being acquired by De Rigo of Italy for undisclosed terms. 04-Dec-1998 Cavity Trays of Yeovil has acquired Abutment Flashings and Dampcourses for undisclosed terms. 04-Dec-1998 Wren, the Lloyd's insurance company, is planning to merge with Masthead Insurance Underwriting to create a combined group trading under the Wren name with a market value of £100m. 04-Dec-1998 Flemings, the investment bank, is to acquire Jardine Matheson's stake in their Jardine Fleming joint venture in Asia. 04-Dec-1998 Amtrak, the express parcels company, is being acquired in a £86m management buy-in with the support of 3i. 04-Dec-1998 Utopia Systems, the Royston-based software distributor, has been acquired by Lilly Software Associates, as part of the US company's plans to expand in Europe. 04-Dec-1998 Vosper Thornycroft is acquiring Brisco Engineering, the Great Yarmouth-based manufacturer of marine electronics. 04-Dec-1998 Marley, the building materials company, has accepted a £365m takeover offer from Etex of Belgium, having turned down an approach from the John Mansfield timber company. 03-Dec-1998 Hanson has acquired Nelson & Sloan, the Californian cement and aggregates company, for £23m, as part of an ongoing acquisitions programme in the US. 03-Dec-1998 Babcock International has sold its water engineering operations to Earth Tech of the US for £13m, which completes a three-year restructuring programme to focus on facilities management and materials handling. 03-Dec-1998 Geest is selling its two Dutch produce trading operations to De Weide Blik of Belgium for £10m. 03-Dec-1998 4Front Technologies is acquiring I-NEA, the French on-site computer services business, from Siemens Nixdorf for £2.5m. 03-Dec-1998 Mentmore Abbey is selling a 50.1% stake in British Data Management, the corporate archiving business, to Iron Mountain of the US for £27m, and the new joint venture will look to expand into continental Europe. 03-Dec-1998 Crest Packaging has accepted a £16m offer from Angley, a vehicle controlled by Crest's executive deputy chairman. 03-Dec-1998 Volex has acquired a 60% stake in Telepart Industria, the Brazilian cable assembly company, for about £8m, as part of a strategy to improve service to multinational customers. 03-Dec-1998 Eastgate has acquired Hambro Assistance, the supplier of legal expenses insurance, for £51m, and the new group will be called Eastgate Assistance. 02-Dec-1998 Hays has acquired Colirail, the French provider of courier services, for £14m. 02-Dec-1998 Elementis is selling BOCM Pauls, the animal feed and pig business, to Accruechart, which is jointly owned by BOCM management and Electra Fleming, for about £60m. 01-Dec-1998 Vickers is to acquire Ulstein, the Norwegian marine engineering group, for £344m, which will create the largest marine propulsion company in the world. 01-Dec-1998 TM Group has acquired Martin Retail for £75m, creating the largest newsagency chain in the UK with 1,420 outlets, and it will convert many of the stores into a convenience format. 30-Nov-1998 United Norwest Co-op has acquired the Nevins chain of 20 convenience stores for undisclosed terms. 28-Nov-1998 BOC has agreed the sale of its German and Benelux gases operations to Air Liquide of France for £112m. 27-Nov-1998 Delta has sold four materials operations to Marmon of the US for £20m in order to focus on its core electrical and engineering services business. 27-Nov-1998 British Airways is to acquire CityFlyer Express, one of its UK regional franchises, for £75m. 27-Nov-1998 ICI is selling its Teesside utilities business, which provides support services to companies operating at Wilton, to Enron of the US for £300m. 27-Nov-1998 Sainsbury has acquired Star Markets, the US supermarket chain, for £294m and the 53 stores are expected to be converted to its existing Shaw's format. 27-Nov-1998 Arriva has confirmed the £47m acquisitions of the Dutch state-owned Veonn and Hanze bus groups. 27-Nov-1998 Aon has acquired Irisc Claims Management, the Sheffield-based insurance company with 125 staff. 27-Nov-1998 Akzo Nobel has sold the recently-acquired Courtaulds plastics packaging and laminate and aluminium tubes businesses to management in a £103m deal. 27-Nov-1998 Fenmarc, the Cambridgeshire-based vegetable-processing company, has undergone a £11m management buyout. 26-Nov-1998 Brenntag has acquired Midlands-based chemical distributor Farleyway, as part of a plan to build up a £100m chemical distribution business in the UK. 26-Nov-1998 Mott MacDonald has acquired Bingham Cotterell, the structural and civil engineering consultant with 100 staff. 26-Nov-1998 British Telecom has acquired a 50% stake in Excite's UK internet business for £6m, and intends to launch Excite as an internet service provider. 26-Nov-1998 National Power is planning to sell the Drax power station in Yorkshire in order to win clearance to buy the supply business of Midlands Electricity for £180m. 26-Nov-1998 Astec, the power converters company, has accepted a new approach from Emerson Electric of the US for the 49% stake it does not already own, in a deal that values Astec at £265m. 26-Nov-1998 CGU is acquiring three Greek insurance companies from Royal & Sun Alliance for £3.6m. 26-Nov-1998 Cranswick has acquired Mr Lazenby's, the Teesside-based sausage maker, for £3.5m. 26-Nov-1998 Highchase of London has acquired Impala Designs, the Ipswich-based display and advertising sign company. 25-Nov-1998 ASCo of Aberdeen is acquiring L&L Oil, the US supplier of fuels and environmental services to oil operators in the Gulf of Mexico, for undisclosed terms. 25-Nov-1998 Thurston Building Systems, the Horbury-based manufacturer of portable buildings, is undergoing a management buyout which will help to safeguard the 120 jobs. 24-Nov-1998 LucasVarity has sold its heavy vehicle braking systems division to Meritor Automotive of the US for £235m, and the proceeds will be used on further acquisitions. 24-Nov-1998 Quadramatic is selling the bulk of its instruments division to 3i for £27m, and buying two US vending machine component companies - Ardac and Mid-South Enterprises - for a total $13m. 24-Nov-1998 Siebe and BTR are merging to create a £9bn control systems and automation group, and about 1,000 UK jobs could be lost as a result. 24-Nov-1998 Daily Mail & General Trust is acquiring Radio Mercury, which broadcasts in Reigate and Crawley, from Independent Radio for £3.7m. 21-Nov-1998 City of London PR Group is to acquire Boswell City Financial PR for undisclosed terms. 21-Nov-1998 Skillsgroup has bought ISL, the supplier of business intelligence solutions, for a maximum £2.9m. 21-Nov-1998 Direct Network Publishing is acquiring Symphony Telecommunications, the supplier of premium-rate information services, for £10m. 21-Nov-1998 HT Webb, the chilled food importer with annual sales of £52m, is undergoing a management buyout. 21-Nov-1998 Dialog is acquiring Write Works, the Oxford-based developer of online purchasing systems, for up to £6.3m. 20-Nov-1998 IBC is to merge with LLP Group, the publisher of Lloyd's List, to create a £315m business publishing group called Informa. 20-Nov-1998 Cable & Wireless Communications is acquiring the Irish business of Cable & Wireless, its majority shareholder, as part of a £30m infrastructure programme that will help it benefit from the liberalisation of the Irish market. 20-Nov-1998 Roxboro is acquiring Norwich Aero Products, the US temperature sensors company, for £4.7m. 20-Nov-1998 West Port Corporation has acquired North East Joinery of Blaydon which will enable it to expand the manufacture of PVC-u windows and doors. 19-Nov-1998 Abbey National is paying £347m to acquire three businesses from National Westminster - Lombard Motor Finance, Lombard Tricity Finance and Lombard Business Equipment Leasing. 19-Nov-1998 WPP Group has bought Performers Group, the Belgian healthcare specialist with annual sales of $4m. 19-Nov-1998 NFC is to acquire Vanguard Engineering, the industrial plant relocation business, and will merge it with Pickfords Industrial. 19-Nov-1998 MY Holdings, the paperboard and plastic packaging concern, is buying S&D Cartons of Somerset for £1.2m. 19-Nov-1998 Whitecroft is selling its Chalmit industrial lighting operation to Hubbell of the US for £17m, and is also looking to sell its furniture trimmings and coatings business. 19-Nov-1998 Clyde Blowers has received a £24m takeover offer from Redwood, a new company partly owned by Clyde's management. 19-Nov-1998 Eclipse Blinds has acquired Scientific Plastics, the US blind component maker, for £4.5m. 19-Nov-1998 Media Business, the advertising sales company, is to be acquired by MediaCom, a division of Grey Advertising of the US, for £28m. 18-Nov-1998 Royal & Sun Alliance has bought Guardian Royal Exchange's New Zealand life business for £58m. 18-Nov-1998 Scotia Holdings has sold its Efamol nutrition business to Nutricia for £16m, and has also announced plans to restructure its Canadian research facilities in order to save about £1m a year. 17-Nov-1998 BG Foods, the chilled and frozen desserts company, has been acquired by management for £36m, and the new owners are planning to build a £6m dairy desserts factory in Newton Abbot. 14-Nov-1998 Roberts Yorkshire Kitchens has merged with Nordale Foods to create a new £23m company called Roberts Group that will be the country's second largest manufacturer of Yorkshire puddings. 14-Nov-1998 Iceland's Woodford Foodservice subsidiary has acquired Caterfish, the Midlands-based supplier of frozen foods and fresh fish. 14-Nov-1998 Slough Estates, the property company, has succeeded with its £276m hostile takeover bid for Bilton. 14-Nov-1998 Masco, the US furniture company, has launched a £40m takeover offer for Heritage Bathrooms, the UK bathroom manufacturer. 13-Nov-1998 Gael Force Marine of Inverness has acquired Seaboard Anchors, the Portmahomack-based anchor manufacturer. 13-Nov-1998 Prism Leisure, the home entertainment wholesaler, is to be acquired by Linkwill, a newly-formed unquoted company, in a £6.5m deal. 12-Nov-1998 LTG Technologies has launched a £10m takeover offer for Crabtree, the can-making engineering group. 12-Nov-1998 Peptide Therapeutics is planning to acquire OraVax, the US developer of vaccines, for £9m. 12-Nov-1998 CMG has bought CMS Data Consult, the German computer services concern, for £3.3m. 12-Nov-1998 Columbus Group is buying EFM Publishing, the publisher of the European Fund Manager magazine, for up to £2m. 12-Nov-1998 IAWS has bought a 34% stake in Welcon Pelagic, the Norwegian fishmeal and seafood processing company, for £5m, as well as Viper Seafoods of Scotland for £1.1m. 12-Nov-1998 Sema Group UK has bought Meridian Information Systems, the Stockport-based supplier of systems to the bus industry, for £2.8m. 12-Nov-1998 Atrium Cockell, the underwriting agency, is planning to merge with the investment trust Lomond Underwriting to create a new group called Atrium Underwriting. 11-Nov-1998 Woolwich is selling its 167 estate agency branches to Spicer McColl for £23m, in a deal that Winterthur Life is financing in order to boost its sales of house-related financial services. 11-Nov-1998 Senior Engineering is acquiring Jet Products Corporation, the US manufacturer of components for gas turbine engines, for £34m. 11-Nov-1998 Enterprise Rent-A-Car of the US has acquired Mitchell's Self Drive, the Aberdeen-based self-drive vehicle business, for £10m. 10-Nov-1998 Ciba and Clariant, the Swiss speciality chemical companies, are planning to merge, which could result in job losses among the 5,200 staff the two companies employ in the UK. 10-Nov-1998 Bunzl has acquired Xpedx, the US distributor of disposable products, from International Paper for undisclosed terms. 10-Nov-1998 Wyevale Garden Centres is acquiring Kennedys, the chain of 13 garden centres, for up to £13m, taking its total number of outlets to 78. 10-Nov-1998 Workplace Technologies has acquired LanBase Holdings, the network integrator, for £20m. 07-Nov-1998 Tomkins has sold the FH Tomkins Buckle Company to a private investor for undisclosed terms, and is considering plans to sell its garden and leisure products division. 06-Nov-1998 Dixon Motors has sold its parts distribution operation to Speedpart for an initial £9.5m. 06-Nov-1998 Shepherd Homes is acquiring George Longden, the builder of houses in the North West and West Midlands, for undisclosed terms. 05-Nov-1998 Aukett Associates, the architects practice, is acquiring Collingwood of Prague for £0.3m. 05-Nov-1998 Bickerton has sold its joinery business to a new firm called Valley Joinery in St Albans. 05-Nov-1998 Aerospace Systems & Technology, the Durham-based maker of a ice protection systems for aircraft, is being sold to management in a £20m deal. 05-Nov-1998 Abbey National has bought the retirement planning division of Rea Brothers for an initial £0.5m. 05-Nov-1998 Tarmac Quarry Products has acquired Johnston Surfacing, the road surfacing contractor, from Johnston Group for £0.6m. 05-Nov-1998 James Latham, the timber importer, has bought partitioning and suspended ceilings group Soarsett for £0.7m. 04-Nov-1998 Skymark Packaging International has acquired Huntsman Packaging, the Scunthorpe-based supplier of plain and printed films for the hygiene, food and medical industries. 04-Nov-1998 Matthew Clark, the cider maker, has been acquired by Canandaigua Brands of the US for £215m, and the two businesses will be able to sell their products through each other's distribution channels. 04-Nov-1998 Smiths Industries is acquiring Stewart Hughes, the supplier of aerospace diagnostic systems, for £8m. 04-Nov-1998 Delta has sold its industrial fasteners distribution business in Australia to Coventry Group for £9m. 04-Nov-1998 General Re of the US is acquiring DP Mann, the Lloyd's agency, in a deal thought to be worth about £100m. 04-Nov-1998 Care UK has acquired Caring People's Services, the Derby-based provider of home care for the elderly, for undisclosed terms. 03-Nov-1998 Innovated Plastics of Leicester has bought Prestige Coatings, the Enderby-based product finishing company, for an undisclosed sum. 03-Nov-1998 Close Brothers has acquired a majority stake in Freyberg Hambros, the German corporate finance house, in order to set itself up as a leading adviser to medium-sized companies in Germany and Austria. 03-Nov-1998 Ultra Electronics is acquiring Raytheon's sonobuoy business in the US for £13m, and will integrate it with its Hermes operation in Canada. 03-Nov-1998 Mid Kent Laboratories is acquiring Dr Augustus Voelcker, the laboratory services company, for about £0.5m. 03-Nov-1998 SPS Technologies has acquired Chevron Aerospace, the Nottingham-based manufacturer of aircraft structural assemblies, in a £32m deal. 02-Nov-1998 JWE Telecom is acquiring Midland Phones, the mobile phone distributor, for up to £9m. 02-Nov-1998 Quantica of Halifax is acquiring SWP, the specialist in the recruitment of technical staff, for an initial £6.7m. 02-Nov-1998 Prepco Foods, the Skelmersdale-based vegetables supplier, has undergone a £2.5m management buy-out. 31-Oct-1998 Hays has acquired Sitinfo, the French computer staff recruitment concern, for up to £13m. 30-Oct-1998 Kingfisher has acquired Electrical City, the Singapore electrical retail chain, for undisclosed terms, and will use it as a base to expand further into south-east Asia. 30-Oct-1998 Kewill Systems has acquired Tracer Research, the US supplier of electronic commerce software, for $20m. 30-Oct-1998 Eurocamp has sold the restaurant and nightclubs operation of its recently-acquired Baldwin business to a Malaysian businessman for £7m. 30-Oct-1998 Laporte has sold its US mining chemicals business to Henkel of Germany for £10m, and more disposals are expected to follow as it aims to focus on life science and niche industrial products. 30-Oct-1998 NTL Telecommunications has acquired CymruNet, the Welsh internet service provider. 29-Oct-1998 ARC has acquired G Sweeney, the Stockton-based ready-mixed concrete company. 29-Oct-1998 GKN is acquiring Dow-UT Composite Products, the US manufacturer of aircraft components, for £37m, and will merge the business with its GKN Westland Aerospace division. 29-Oct-1998 Ecclesiastical Insurance, the Gloucester-based insurer of churches, is acquiring the Ansvar group of insurance companies operating in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, for £11m. 29-Oct-1998 Ato Findley UK has bought Cementone, the building chemicals division of the Philip Johnstone Group, for an undisclosed sum and the business will be merged with Stafford-based Evode. 28-Oct-1998 Norwich Union is to acquire London & Edinburgh Insurance Group from Hartford International Financial Services for £315m, which will result in about 600 jobs losses including 230 at L&E's office in Worthing. 28-Oct-1998 Blue Circle is to acquire Kedah Cement, the Malaysian cement company, for up to £356m. 28-Oct-1998 Concept Systems, the Edinburgh-based seismic software firm, is to undergo a £36m management buy-out. 27-Oct-1998 W Canning, the Birmingham-based chemicals company, is being acquired by MacDermid of the US for £89m. 27-Oct-1998 Booker has sold its fish processing business to a vehicle set up by Legal & General Ventures for £44m, and it will be renamed Bluecrest Seafood. 27-Oct-1998 Enterprise Inns has acquired Mayfair Taverns, the chain of 276 tenanted pubs, for £37m, and aims to have a total 2,500 pubs within three years. 27-Oct-1998 Yorkshire Water has acquired Biochem Group, the Dutch environmental testing concern, for £15m. 27-Oct-1998 Charles Baynes is acquiring Beacon, the Australian valve distributor, for £2.5m. 27-Oct-1998 Lilleshall has sold its Ideal Williams doors and windows business to Templebray. 27-Oct-1998 Reuters has acquired Agence de Presse Medicale, the French medical news service, for undisclosed terms. 27-Oct-1998 Ethical Holdings of Ely has been rescued in a £10m deal that will give Elan Corporation control of the company. 26-Oct-1998 Associated British Foods is acquiring SPI Holding Company, the US supplier of sweetening agents. 26-Oct-1998 Mondas is acquiring Reality Communications Scandinavia, the Norwegian intranet software company, for £1.8m. 26-Oct-1998 Bodycote International has acquired Alpha Heat Treating, the US heat treatment company, for £6.3m. 24-Oct-1998 Dowding & Mills has acquired Scotlec, the electronic drives specialist with branches in Manchester and Sunderland, in order to offer a more complete service to customers. 23-Oct-1998 Torex, the Oxfordshire-based medical computer company, has acquired Hollowbrook Computer Services for £2.4m. 23-Oct-1998 Grampian Holdings is selling its sportswear business to Finest Brands International, in order to focus on the expansion of its chain of Edinburgh Woollen Mill outlets. 23-Oct-1998 W Canning has sold Levenit Chemical, its Italian lubricants business, to Houghton Europe of the US for £5.7m. 23-Oct-1998 Hewden Stuart has sold its contracting division to a management team for £1.3m, and has also acquired the tower crane division of Elmore Plant. 22-Oct-1998 BTR is selling its Australian polymer products business to Austrim for £23m, as part of a strategy to transform itself from a conglomerate into a focused engineering company. 22-Oct-1998 BTP is selling its safety equipment division to Electra Fleming, the venture capital group, for £100m, in order to focus on the chemicals industry. 22-Oct-1998 McBride is acquiring Globol, the manufacturer of home fragrancing products, for £7.3m. 22-Oct-1998 Rexel of France is acquiring Gardiner, the distributor of electronic security products, for £31m. 21-Oct-1998 Globecrown International, the Maldon-based product-testing company, has been acquired by Hill Top Research of the US in a £4.5m deal. 21-Oct-1998 Hanson is acquiring Condux, the US concrete products maker, for $77m. 20-Oct-1998 Go-Ahead Group has acquired GHI, the provider of passenger and cargo handling services at a number of UK airports, from the US airlines Northwest and Delta for £37m. 20-Oct-1998 Marley has sold its Improdex business in Australia to Australian Vinyl Corporation for £3.6m. 20-Oct-1998 Smiths Industries has acquired Transtector Systems, the US power equipment company, for £21m. 20-Oct-1998 Alchemy Partners, the venture capital company, is acquiring Envirotest Systems in a £450m deal that will combine the US vehicle emissions testing company with Wellman's US division. 17-Oct-1998 Alldays has acquired Walter Wilson, the Gateshead-based chain of 48 supermarkets, for £6.9m. 17-Oct-1998 AM Paper, the Skelmersdale-based tissue paper manufacturer, has acquired Pennington Paper Products of Wigan. 17-Oct-1998 Smiths Industries is acquiring Biochem International, the US monitoring equipment company, for £49m in order to expand its critical and respiratory care activities. 15-Oct-1998 McKechnie is acquiring PTM International, the US jet engine parts company, for up to £12m. 15-Oct-1998 Capita Group has acquired Sector Holdings, the treasury and financial management advisory service, for £11m, in order to expand the range of services offered to local authorities. 14-Oct-1998 British Fittings Group of West Bromwich is selling its high pressure water jetting business to a management team for £4m. 14-Oct-1998 Brent International is selling its imaging business to Weir Holdings for £17m, in order to focus on surface coatings. 13-Oct-1998 Stadium Group has sold the recently-acquired refrigeration division of Beales Hunter to Sabroe Refrigeration of Denmark for £7m. 13-Oct-1998 De La Rue has sold its US bank vault manufacturing division to Mosler of the US for £20m, which completes its withdrawal from the physical security market. 13-Oct-1998 BPB is to acquire the remaining 75% of Gyproc, the Scandinavian plasterboard company, from its joint venture partner Scancem for £95m. 13-Oct-1998 Albion Automotive, the Glasgow-based auto components supplier, has been acquired by American Axle & Manufacturing of the US for a sum thought to be around £20m. 13-Oct-1998 Yorkline, the Leeds-based shopfitter and building contractor, has undergone a management buyout, thereby securing 32 jobs. 13-Oct-1998 Dean Corporation of Huntingdon has bought Bernard Ward and Sons, the Peterborough housebuilders and renovators. 12-Oct-1998 FEGS, the Cambridgeshire-based engineering software company, has been acquired by Ohio-based International TechneGroup Incorporated for undisclosed terms. 12-Oct-1998 Harmsworth Publishing of Cambridge has acquired Landmark Information Group, the Exeter-based provider of site-specific land and property information. 12-Oct-1998 British Aerospace and Daimler-Benz Aerospace are planning to set up a joint holding company early next year, and other companies will be able to join when they are ready in order to create a giant pan-European defence contractor. 12-Oct-1998 Prebon Yamane is planning to merge with MW Marshall, the London spot foreign exchange broker, although details have yet to be finalised. 12-Oct-1998 GE Capital has acquired Eagle Star Re, the reinsurance division, from Zurich Financial Services for undisclosed terms, but ZFS is to retain the remainder of its UK reinsurance business following the collapse of a proposed management buyout. 10-Oct-1998 British Aerospace has sold Arlington Securities, the developer of business parks, to Prudential Insurance Company of America for £270m. 10-Oct-1998 Booker has sold Daehnfeldt, the Danish seeds business, to Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst, for £29m, and it is now looking to sell its fish processing subsidiary and its US turkey breeding operation. 09-Oct-1998 Ennstone is forming a joint venture with J&A Gardner to acquire Gardner's quarry operations in the west of Scotland. 09-Oct-1998 Clubhaus is acquiring El Bosque Golf and Country Club in Spain for £3.6m, as part of a strategy to buy more foreign golf courses due to the high prices being asked in the UK. 09-Oct-1998 Xyratex of Havant is acquiring Matrix Components, the US computer repair company, for undisclosed terms. 09-Oct-1998 Ocean Group has acquired AW Fenton, the US provider of customs clearance for air and sea freight, for £10m. 08-Oct-1998 Alfred McAlpine is selling its US aggregates and civil engineering operations to Hanson for £73m, in order to focus on UK construction and housebuilding. 08-Oct-1998 Thomas Cook is to merge its UK holiday interests with those of Carlson of the US, to create an enlarged group with over 1,400 travel agents. 07-Oct-1998 Glynwed has acquired Friatac, the German plastic pipes company, for £174m, which will give it a leading position in the world market as well as access to eastern Europe, Brazil and the US. 07-Oct-1998 Morgan Bruce is to merge with Cole & Cole to create an enlarged law firm called Morgan Cole with nearly 100 partners and 600 staff across seven offices. 07-Oct-1998 Mears Group is acquiring United Fleet Distribution, the vehicle distributor, for £2m. 06-Oct-1998 Brunel Holdings has acquired the tobacco equipment operations of GBE International for £4.5m. 06-Oct-1998 Weeks Green and BKL are planning to merge to create what they claim will be the largest accountancy practice in the south, and the group will be based at a new £4m headquarters in Eastleigh. 06-Oct-1998 Brake Bros has acquired Watson & Philip Foodservice from Watson & Philip for £43.6m, and W&P will change its name to Alldays. 05-Oct-1998 Milk Marque has acquired North Bradon Farm, the Somerset-based cheddar cheese producer, for undisclosed terms. 03-Oct-1998 Ushers of Trowbridge, the brewer and pub chain, has announced plans for a £116m management buy-out, with the backing of Alchemy Partners. 03-Oct-1998 British Vita is acquiring Caleppio, the Italian manufacturer of thermoplastic sheets, for £10m. 03-Oct-1998 Quadrant Healthcare has acquired Andaris Group, the private drug delivery company, in a £13m deal. 03-Oct-1998 Family Assurance is to acquire Gan Pep Managers from Gan Life, which will add a further 30,000 Pep customers to its existing 20,000. 03-Oct-1998 Laird Group has bought the JW Window Components window balance business in the US from Walter Industries for £6m. 02-Oct-1998 Logica is acquiring Carnegie Group, the US producer of customer management and decision support software, for £21m. 02-Oct-1998 Solitaire Group has acquired Pembertons Residential, the manager of 1,300 luxury homes in London. 02-Oct-1998 Castle Mill International is to acquire British World Aviation in a £10m deal, in order to transform itself from a clothing wholesaler into an aircraft services company. 01-Oct-1998 South Staffordshire Water has acquired Britannia Envelope Manufacturing, the Stoke-based envelope manufacturer, for £3.4m. 01-Oct-1998 Reuters has bought the Liberty order-routing system from Cedel of Luxembourg, in order to become a leading supplier of order-handling capabilities for the securities markets. 01-Oct-1998 Arriva is set to acquire VSN-North, the Dutch bus operator, for £47m, and hopes to benefit from the Dutch government's moves to introduce competition into regional bus and rail markets. 01-Oct-1998 Airtours is acquiring Panorama Holiday Group, the Brighton-based tour operator, for £10m, as well as Vacation Express, the US tour operator, for £14m. 01-Oct-1998 Ulster Bank is acquiring Cunningham Coates, the Belfast-based stockbroker, for undisclosed terms. 01-Oct-1998 Rutland Trust is selling Ellis & Buckle, the loss adjuster, to Lindsey Morden Group for £60m. 30-Sep-1998 Dowding & Mills has bought Peebles Field Services and Peebles Field Operations, which were subsidiaries of Rolls-Royce Power Engineering. 30-Sep-1998 McLoughlin Pipelines, the Derby-based pipeline contractor, has been sold to management for undisclosed terms. 30-Sep-1998 Claverley Hyde is to merge with Bollington to create one of the largest insurance brokers in the Stafforshire and Cheshire region. 30-Sep-1998 Marshalls is acquiring Stonemarket, the concrete company, for £16m, in order to gain access to new customers such as independent merchants and garden centres. 29-Sep-1998 CRH has acquired two French companies for £13m - Raboni, the Paris-based builders merchant, and Prefaest, the maker of drainage systems. 29-Sep-1998 Ottakar's is buying Bells Bookshops for £1.1m, and is also preparing to open eight new bookshops before the end of the year. 29-Sep-1998 Grampian Holdings has sold various golf-related businesses to a management team for £3.4m, and the new company will be called Caledonian Golf Group and based at the Ben Sayers factory in North Berwick. 29-Sep-1998 Kingston Communications has bought Teleport London International, the broadcaster of TV and radio programmes to Armed Forces throughout the world, for £10m, in order to gain a foothold in the digital TV revolution. 29-Sep-1998 Caremark, the provider of drugs to NHS patients who live at home, has been sold to a management team by its parent company MedPartners of the US. 28-Sep-1998 Day Runner of the US is to acquire Filofax, the UK personal-organiser maker, for £50m. 26-Sep-1998 Kingfisher is to merge its B&Q business with Castorama of France to create Europe's largest DIY retailing group and allow major cost savings. 26-Sep-1998 Queensborough is acquiring 46 Deep Pan Pizza outlets from City Centre Restaurants for £10m, and will convert them into a chain of Italian-style trattorias. 25-Sep-1998 Budgens is moving into home shopping with the acquisition of Teleshop for £0.5m, and will rename the service Budgens Direct. 25-Sep-1998 Adaptive Broadband, the spin-off from the Olivetti & Oracle Research Laboratory that provides high-speed Internet access by wireless, has been acquired by California Microwave for £6.5m. 25-Sep-1998 Harvey Nash Group is acquiring Inston, the Dutch supplier of computer systems staff, for £3.3m. 25-Sep-1998 Expro Group of Aberdeen has acquired Oliserv, the Australian well testing company, for undisclosed terms. 24-Sep-1998 Triplex has acquired Peak Automotive for £33m, as part of a strategy to become a leading supplier of automotive components. 23-Sep-1998 Dexion, the warehouse and archive storage company, is to undergo a £350m merger with Norway's Constructor Group, and the enlarged business will be called Constructor Dexion Group. 22-Sep-1998 Incepta, the owner of Citigate, has acquired Dewe Rogerson, the public relations and marketing company, for £27m and the new group will be called Citigate Dewe Rogerson. 22-Sep-1998 Blue Circle Industries has sold its South African cement business to Lafarge of France for $240m. 22-Sep-1998 More Group has acquired Sirocco, the French outdoor advertising company, for £52m, and will use it as a base to expand into other European countries. 22-Sep-1998 Gall & Eke, the Manchester-based stockbroker, is being acquired by Toronto-Dominion Bank for £8m, and will be integrated with the Canadian bank's London operation. 22-Sep-1998 Rolls-Royce has sold its energy transmission division, which has plants in Newcastle, Edinburgh, Canada and Mexico, to VA Tech of Austria for £137m. 22-Sep-1998 Self-Serve, the manufacturer of vending machines for washroom areas, is to undergo a £7m management buy-out, and will now look to expand overseas. 21-Sep-1998 Siemens Metering is acquiring Central Quantum Office, the North Tyneside-based manager of transactions for gas suppliers, from British Gas Trading for £14m. 21-Sep-1998 Motherwell Bridge has acquired Thomas A Metcalfe, the Manchester-based distributor of welding consumable products, for undisclosed terms. 21-Sep-1998 Unidare has sold its Southborough International division to Complex Tooling & Molding of the US for £4.3m. 21-Sep-1998 Ennstone is to acquire the stone and concrete division of Drings of Bath for about £1m, and it will become part of its Natural Building Materials subsidiary. 21-Sep-1998 Lloyds TSB is acquiring three leasing subsidiaries from National Westminster Bank - NatWest Leasing Industries, NatWest Machinery Finance, and NatWest Specialist Finance - for £11m. 19-Sep-1998 Kwik-Fit is acquiring Speedy Europe, the tyre and exhaust chain with 568 outlets across Europe including 376 in France, from SMK of Canada for £105m. 18-Sep-1998 Cookson has acquired Matrix, the US manufacturer of micron-tolerance precision engineered products, for an initial £8m. 18-Sep-1998 Hays is acquiring Castleton Data Services, the billing services company, for up to £15m. 18-Sep-1998 Courtaulds Textiles is planning to acquire Claremont Garments for £10m, and claims the deal will make it the leading supplier to Marks & Spencer. 17-Sep-1998 Clinton Cards is to acquire CSG Holdings, the greeting-card retailer, for £27m which will expand its chain from 504 to 715 shops. 17-Sep-1998 SEP Industrial Holdings, the industrial fasteners company, is to sell its wholesale distribution division to Decco for about £12m. 16-Sep-1998 Healey & Baker, the property consultancy, is being acquired by Cushman & Wakefield of the US for £70m, to create a combined business with over 7,000 employees in 39 countries. 16-Sep-1998 GKN and Alvis are to merge their tanks businesses with GKN swapping its interests for a 29.9% stake in Alvis, and the deal is expected to lead to the closure of Alvis's plant in Coventry. 16-Sep-1998 GEC is acquiring the computed tomography subsidiary of Elscint of Israel for £167m, which will increase its share of the world market from 12% to 18%. 15-Sep-1998 Unigate has bought the Roata group of companies, which run the Unipork pigmeat business in Northern Ireland, for £27m. 15-Sep-1998 English China Clays has acquired Minco, the US fused silica and magnesia producer, for $28m. 15-Sep-1998 Savills, the property consultancy, has bought the continental European operations of Weatherall, Green & Smith for £3m, and it now plans further acquisitions in Europe. 15-Sep-1998 Dowding & Mills is acquiring Advanced Technical Services, the industrial repair company, for undisclosed terms, and is in discussions to acquire two more UK companies. 15-Sep-1998 SEC is to sell Securitised Endowment Contracts, the marketmaker in endowment policies, to a management team for £6.5m, in order to focus on offering independent financial advice. 14-Sep-1998 Albert E Sharp, the stockbroking firm, has been acquired by Old Mutual of South Africa for £41m, and will be merged with Old Mutual's recently-acquired Capel-Cure Myers broking operation. 12-Sep-1998 Cookson has acquired Accel Corp, the US manufacturer of speciality cleaning systems for the electronics sector, for £9m. 12-Sep-1998 Baggeridge Brick has acquired Rudgwick Brick, the maker of traditional clay bricks, for £2.3m. 10-Sep-1998 Norwich Union is acquiring Portfolio Partners, the Australian fund manager, for an undisclosed sum thought to be about £47m. 10-Sep-1998 Tempus is acquiring VSM Media, the US media communications company, for up to £8.7m. 10-Sep-1998 Scottish Media Group is set to acquire VCI, the video publisher, for £31m, although a rival bidder may emerge. 09-Sep-1998 Nikko Europe is acquiring British Credit Trust Holdings, the motor finance company, for a sum thought to be under £10m, and will use it as a platform to expand into other consumer loan portfolios. 09-Sep-1998 Babcock International has bought AKI Dryer Manufacturers, the US producer of panel dryers for the building materials sector, for £4.5m. 09-Sep-1998 Kingfisher is to acquire Polish Life Improvement, Poland's largest DIY retailer, for about £16m, its first move into eastern Europe. 09-Sep-1998 Cadbury Schweppes is acquiring Wedel, the leading Polish confectionery brand, from PepsiCo for £46m, while United Biscuits is in negotiations to buy the Wedel biscuit business. 08-Sep-1998 Eidos is acquiring Crystal Dynamics, the US computer games company, for $47m. 08-Sep-1998 British Vita is to acquire Doeflex, the industrial plastics company, for £66m, as part of a strategy to equalise the sales of its three divisions - foams, industrial polymers, and fibres and fabrics. 08-Sep-1998 David Brown, the pumps and gears concern, is being acquired by Textron, the US industrial group that is building up a global fluid and power systems business, for £195m. 05-Sep-1998 TLG, formerly Thorn Lighting Group, has received a £321m takeover offer from Cooper Industries of the US, and a rival bid may now emerge. 05-Sep-1998 Cooper Clarke, the Lancashire-based builders merchant, is being acquired by Heiton Holdings of Ireland for £15.7m. 05-Sep-1998 UPF Group, the auto parts company, is to undergo a £43m management buy-out with the backing of UBS, the Swiss bank. 05-Sep-1998 Meyer Group has sold a number of timber businesses to a management team trading as Palgrave Brown for £10m. 04-Sep-1998 Thistle Hotels has sold 30 provincial hotels to the Lehman Brothers investment bank for £66m, and they will now be run by Peel Holdings. 04-Sep-1998 National Express has acquired Crabtree-Harmon, the US school bus operator, for up to £23m, and is now looking for similar acquisitions. 04-Sep-1998 Yorkshire Water is acquiring 3C Waste from Cheshire county council for £120m. 03-Sep-1998 Siebe is selling North Safety Products, the US maker of personal safety products, to Norcross Safety Products of the US for £137m. 03-Sep-1998 Photobition, the media services provider, is acquiring Katz Digital Technologies, the US digital graphics company, for £30m. 03-Sep-1998 Thomson Travel is to acquire Blakes Holiday Boating, the boat hire business, from Blakes Holidays for more than £2.5m. 03-Sep-1998 Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon, the Kendal-based pump manufacturer, has acquired Wallwin Pump and Armfield from Biwater Industries for undisclosed terms. 03-Sep-1998 Powerscreen International is selling SDC Trailers, its Northern Ireland-based trailer subsidiary, to a new company called Reltan Manufacturing for £6.75m. 02-Sep-1998 Redbridge Holdings is acquiring AFI Fruit Importers, the Kent-based berry fruit distributor, for undisclosed terms. 02-Sep-1998 First Leisure has sold a number of attractions to Leisure Parcs for £74m, including Blackpool Tower and piers at Eastbourne, Southsea and Blackpool. 02-Sep-1998 Nordiko, the UK manufacturer of components for computer disk drives, is being acquired by two Japanese companies - Shimadzu and Marubun, in a £22m deal. 02-Sep-1998 Scottish Hydro-Electric is to merge with Southern Electric, to create a £4.8bn group based in Perth called Scottish & Southern Energy. 02-Sep-1998 Rubicon, the computer box maker, is to be acquired by Applied Power of the US for £207m. 02-Sep-1998 JDR Cable Group, a cable system manufacturer for the oil and gas industry, has been bought out from its parent company, BI, by NatWest Equity Partners in a £36m deal. 01-Sep-1998 Hartford Group is acquiring Bluelodge, the owner of the Pharmacy restaurant in London's Notting Hill, in a £7.2m reverse takeover, as part of a strategy to build up a branded restaurant business. 01-Sep-1998 Scottish Media has acquired TAS Publishing, the trade journal publisher, for £3.1m. 29-Aug-1998 Energis is to acquire Planet Online, the internet service provider, for up to £85m, in order to expand its corporate customer base and offer more internet services. 29-Aug-1998 Bucknall, the building management company, is to undergo a £15m management buyout. 29-Aug-1998 Personal Number Company is to expand its telecommunications business by spending £10m on a number of acquisitions, including PiperTel Communications, DIS Information Services, Unitel Networks and Telecommunications UK. 28-Aug-1998 Oriflame International, the cosmetics marketing company, is to sell its Swedish retailing business to an undisclosed buyer for £14m in order to focus on direct selling. 28-Aug-1998 Allied Domecq is set to acquire Bismarck, the German schnapps producer, for up to £15m. 27-Aug-1998 Berisford has announced the £41m acquisition of Aladdin TempRite, the US catering equipment supply business, and the £8.7m acquisition of Viscount Catering, the UK maker of ranges and fryers. 27-Aug-1998 London Bridge Software is acquiring the mortgage products operation of CheckFree of the US for £13m, which will enable the two businesses to cross-sell products to each other's customers. 27-Aug-1998 Vodafone is acquiring BellSouth New Zealand, the mobile phone network, for £230m and plans to help lift the country's mobile phone penetration from 17% to 50% by 2005. 26-Aug-1998 Wolseley is to acquire the Hall & Co building materials business from RMC for about £120m, and will merge it with its Builder Center division. 26-Aug-1998 Belgo is acquiring Caprice Holdings, the London restaurant owner, for £13m, funded partly by a new £8m share placing. 26-Aug-1998 City Technology, the Portsmouth-based gas sensor maker, is acquiring Endress + Hauser Gastec of Germany for £1.3m. 25-Aug-1998 National Express is selling Highland Country Buses, which provides rural bus services in the Inverness area, to Rapson Coaches for £4m. 25-Aug-1998 Quintiles Transnational Corporation has acquired Royce Consultancy, the Edinburgh-based pharmaceutical sales recruitment and contract organisation, for undisclosed terms. 25-Aug-1998 Sidlaw has acquired S&R, the Edinburgh-based manufacturer of plastic and paper packaging, for £4.3m in order to improve its service to major confectionery clients. 25-Aug-1998 Metroline has acquired Citylink, the Scottish coach operator, from National Express for £9.3m, its first move outside London. 25-Aug-1998 Hewden Stuart has acquired Michael Bowyer, the Wokingham-based plant and tool-hire company, for £2.5m. 25-Aug-1998 Singer & Friedlander is selling its Capital Markets division to management for about £0.8m. 25-Aug-1998 Williams has acquired KS Conquest, the security services provider, from NatWest Equity Partners for £17m. 25-Aug-1998 Reed Elsevier is selling its illustrated books division to management for £33m, and the new business will be called Octopus Publishing Group. 24-Aug-1998 Nomura of Japan is set to buy Turner & Townsend's UK facilities management division for £4.5m, in order to build up a business called Servus Facilities Management that will manage and redevelop corporate properties. 24-Aug-1998 Prize Food Group has acquired the Amble-based roast potato operation of Pillsbury, and will change its name to Cheviot Foods. 24-Aug-1998 BLP, the laminate manufacturer, is acquiring Stanley Cole, the joinery company, and a majority stake in Berman Holdings, the furniture maker, funded by a £8m share offer. 22-Aug-1998 Eliza Tinsley is to acquire James Dickie, the US engineering group, for £12.6m, which will provide its first US manufacturing base. 22-Aug-1998 Britax International is selling its Autolease vehicle management business to Standard Chartered for £83m, and its Dutch vehicle leasing and dealership business to Pon Holdings for £2.7m, in order to complete its withdrawal from the motor trade. 22-Aug-1998 National Westminster Bank is to sell Coutts Bahamas, the offshore private bank, to SG Private Banking of France for an estimated $100m. 22-Aug-1998 Brown & Jackson has acquired B&J Props from Pepkor of South Africa for £2.3m, which will reduce its exposure to rent increases as B&J Props owns 14 of Brown & Jackson's stores. 22-Aug-1998 Liberfabrica, the Bath-based book manufacturer, is acquiring Koninklijke Wohrmann, the Dutch printer, for £10.7m. 22-Aug-1998 Thomson Travel is acquiring Crystal, the ski holiday and short breaks operator, for £66m, in order to maintain its leadership of the market and increase its share of specialist holidays. 22-Aug-1998 Meggitt is to acquire Vibro-Meter, the manufacturer of vibration monitoring systems, from Electrowatt of Switzerland for £42m. 21-Aug-1998 Vardon has acquired Harbour Club, the London health club, for £22m, and now plans to sell its London Dungeon and Sea Life tourist attractions and start opening health and fitness clubs in continental Europe. 21-Aug-1998 Cantrade Investment Management has been acquired by The Board of Executors of South Africa from UBS for an estimated £20m, and Cantrade will now be relaunched as Chiswell Associates. 21-Aug-1998 BTR has acquired Swichtec Power Systems, the New Zealand manufacturer of power equipment for the telecoms sector, for up to £44m. 20-Aug-1998 Pearson has sold Register Group, the provider of advertising data, to Emap and Extreme Information for £12m. 20-Aug-1998 Medeva is to sell its International Medication Systems manufacturing facility in California to Amphastar Pharmaceuticals of the US for £3.6m. 20-Aug-1998 Boots has sold its Do It All chain of 139 DIY stores to Focus Retail, which is backed by Duke Street Capital, for £68m. 20-Aug-1998 Cammell Laird is acquiring ALB Holdings, the operator of four dry docks in the north-east, for £33m, in order to enable it to take on larger ship repair orders. 20-Aug-1998 ProLogis of the US has acquired Kingspark Group for £95m, in order to build up a UK warehousing business and improve its relationship with European logistics companies. 20-Aug-1998 Friends Provident has announced a £750m bid for London & Manchester, the home services insurer, in a rare attempt by a mutual to acquire a publicly quoted company. 19-Aug-1998 Axus UK, part of Ford Financial Services Group, is to acquire ACR, the vehicle contract hire business, from Alexanders for £14m, which will allow Alexanders to focus on motor dealerships. 19-Aug-1998 Tadpole Technology is acquiring RDI Computer, the US computer workstation manufacturer, in a £3.7m reverse takeover. 19-Aug-1998 American Tool of the US has launched a £33m takeover offer for Polyhedron, the manufacturer of power tools, in order to expand its presence in the UK market. 19-Aug-1998 Prudential is selling its Australian and New Zealand operations to Colonial of Australia for £495m, prompting speculation that it may use the proceeds to acquire a UK branch network. 18-Aug-1998 Hexagen, the UK biotech concern, is to be acquired by Incyte Pharmaceuticals of the US for £25m in order to create a major force in the genomics sector. 18-Aug-1998 Acorn Storage Centres is acquiring Abacus Self Storage from Caledonia Investments for £44m, to create Europe's largest self-storage company. 18-Aug-1998 Autologic is acquiring Mansped, the distributor of car parts, from United Carriers for £2.3m, as well as Connection Freight for £0.9m. 18-Aug-1998 McLeod Russel is planning to acquire Trion, the US air cleaning equipment company, for £32m. 18-Aug-1998 Sanctuary Group is to acquire Ted D Bear Group for about £2m as part of a strategy to become Europe's largest independent operator of music facilities. 17-Aug-1998 Trifast, the fastenings company, has acquired Samson Industries of the US for £2.6m. 15-Aug-1998 Astec is to acquire the Advanced Power Systems operation of Canada's Northern Telecom for about £200m, as part of a strategy to move into the manufacture of higher value products for the telecoms sector. 15-Aug-1998 Jordec has sold Baris UK, the construction subcontractor, to management for about £1m. 14-Aug-1998 Abbott Mead Vickers, the advertising agency, is linking up with BBDO Worldwide to acquire Irish International Communications for an initial £3.8m. 14-Aug-1998 BP is to acquire Amoco of the US for £30bn in what has been described as the world's biggest industrial merger, and about 6,000 jobs could be lost as a result. 12-Aug-1998 L Gardner is acquiring Cleveland Guest, the supplier of aerospace components, for an initial £2.4m. 12-Aug-1998 SEP Industrial is acquiring Diss, the fastener maker, for £2.3m. 12-Aug-1998 Amersham Pharmacia Biotech is acquiring Molecular Dynamics, its US partner, for £160m, in order to help it compete in the development of DNA sequencing and genomics. 11-Aug-1998 Gander Holdings, the property investment concern, is to acquire Barrasford Holdings for £24m in order to expand its residential lettings business in London. 11-Aug-1998 Ring has acquired PH Products, the supplier of products to the domestic plumbing and gas installation markets, for £1.4m. 11-Aug-1998 Stagecoach has acquired the Yellow Bus Company in Auckland, New Zealand, for £35m, having beaten off rival bids from a number of other international companies. 11-Aug-1998 WPP has acquired Barry Gowers Advertising, the London-based healthcare agency, for an initial £0.7m. 11-Aug-1998 Granada has sold Granada Vending Services to management for £35m, as part of a strategy to sell off non-core assets. 10-Aug-1998 Killby & Gayford, the leading installer of automatic teller machines, is being sold to management for £12m. 10-Aug-1998 Filtronic is acquiring LK-Products, the telecoms components company, from Nokia for £40m, and is strengthening its ties with Nokia by issuing new shares that will give the Finnish group a 7.5% stake in Filtronic. 08-Aug-1998 Ocean Group is acquiring Skyking Freight Systems of the US for £4.8m, as part of a strategy to build up a US logistics business to complement its international air freight forwarding operation. 08-Aug-1998 HP Bulmer is acquiring Green Mountain Cidery, the US cider company, for £8.7m in an effort to build up its international business in response to fierce competition in the UK. 08-Aug-1998 Berkeley Group is acquiring Thirlstone Group, the builder of luxury homes in Surrey, in a £15m deal. 08-Aug-1998 Field Group has acquired Drukkerij Van Os, the Dutch supplier of pharmaceutical booklets, for £3.7m. 08-Aug-1998 RMC has bought out British Dredging's 50% stake in their British Dredging Aggregates joint venture for £4m. 08-Aug-1998 Racal Electronics has finalised the sale of its troubled data communications business to Platinum Equity Holdings of California for an initial £7.5m. 08-Aug-1998 Fitness First has acquired a 50% stake in Fitness Club Freizeitanlagen for £10m, its first move into continental Europe. 08-Aug-1998 Weir is acquiring SEBIM Holding, the French valve and actuator company, for £8m, in order to improve its market position in Europe, Africa and the former Soviet Union. 07-Aug-1998 McKechnie has sold nine metals businesses in Australia and New Zealand to MCK Holdings for £65m, in order to raise funds to expand its remaining aerospace, engineered plastics, and fixings operations. 07-Aug-1998 Laporte is to acquire Inspec, the speciality chemicals business, for about £611m, thereby creating a leading European supplier to the pharmaceutical, agrochemicals and life sciences sectors. 06-Aug-1998 Dixon Motors has bought the Ford franchise for Bury in Lancashire from Quicks Group for £119,000. 06-Aug-1998 Greencore of Ireland is to acquire Paramount Foods, the pizza base maker, for £28m. 06-Aug-1998 Icom Systems, the IT services supplier, has been acquired by Keane of the US in a £30m deal. 05-Aug-1998 Skillsgroup has sold PSL, its Unix products distribution business, to management for £15m, in order to focus on skills-based activities. 05-Aug-1998 Parkland Group is selling its Autofil automotive textiles business to management and a computerised dye house in Nottinghamshire to a property investment trust, for a total £13.7m. 04-Aug-1998 Bass is selling its BLMS amusement machine service business to a newly-formed company called Leisure Link, backed by Duke Street Capital, for £70m. 04-Aug-1998 Croda International has acquired Westbrook, the manufacturer of lanolin and its derivatives, for £10.6m. 04-Aug-1998 Whitbread and Allied Domecq are in discussions to merge their off-licence chains - Thresher and Victoria Wine - into a 50:50 joint venture in response to the growing power of supermarkets. 03-Aug-1998 BTR is selling its Dunlop and Standard aerospace operations to Doughty Hanson for £510m, which will complete its transformation from a conglomerate into a focused engineering group. 01-Aug-1998 Halifax has agreed the acquisition of the Birmingham Midshires building society for £750m, and will retain the Midshires brand for at least three years with no branch closures or compulsory redundancies. 31-Jul-1998 Skandia Insurance of Sweden has acquired the UK general insurance business of Hibernian of Ireland for about £30m, and Hibernian will use some of the proceeds to make acquisitions in Ireland. 30-Jul-1998 Amberley Group is acquiring DS, the Sweden-based supplier of chemicals to the German printing industry, for up to £12m. 30-Jul-1998 Murray Lawrence is to merge with Angerstein to create one of the largest underwriting groups at Lloyd's of London. 30-Jul-1998 GKN is set to acquire a US manufacturer of powder metal forged connecting rods from Borg-Warner Automotive, in a deal thought to be worth around $40m. 29-Jul-1998 Booth Industries is to acquire CHB, the engineering and manufacturing company, for £3.1m. 29-Jul-1998 Allen is to acquire the building and civil engineering business of Eve Group for £1.25m. 29-Jul-1998 Polypipe has bought Domus Ducting, the manufacturer of modular ventilation systems, for £4.7m. 29-Jul-1998 Rentokil Initial has bought eight businesses for a total £6.5m, including companies involved in pest control, environmental services, electronic security, tropical plants, and textile services. 29-Jul-1998 Seascope Shipping is acquiring Marine Investment Management, the intermediary between merchant banks and shipping companies aiming to raise funds, for undisclosed terms. 29-Jul-1998 Lloyds TSB is to acquire the Bank of Scotland's Countrywide Bank subsidiary in New Zealand in a deal thought to be worth about £300m, and will now be able to challenge Westpac for market leadership. 29-Jul-1998 Vickers has sold Cantieri Riva, the Italian maker of luxury motor yachts, to Stellican for undisclosed terms. 27-Jul-1998 Chrysalis Group is acquiring Choice FM Birmingham, the dance music radio station, for £6m. 25-Jul-1998 Enron of the US has launched a £1.36bn agreed cash bid for Wessex Water, as part of a strategy to build a global water business. 25-Jul-1998 ICI is planning to sell its US tioxide operations to NL Industries for £150m, while ICI's former tioxide plant at Grimsby is being sold by DuPont to NL. 25-Jul-1998 Mellon Bank of the US is acquiring a 75% stake in Newton Investment Managers in a deal that values the UK fund management company at £170m. 25-Jul-1998 Linklaters is to combine with the German, Belgian, Dutch, and Swedish members of the Alliance of European Lawyers to create the second largest legal practice in the world. 24-Jul-1998 JJB Sports is planning to acquire Sports Division for £290m, which would give it a much stronger bargaining position with the major sportswear manufacturers. 24-Jul-1998 United News & Media is planning to demerge its Garban and Harlow Butler money and securities broking business by distributing new shares to existing shareholders. 24-Jul-1998 Reuters has bought the fund information service of Lipper Analytical Services of the US for undisclosed terms, as part of a strategy to move into the funds data business. 24-Jul-1998 Powerscreen International has sold Geith International, the Irish construction equipment company, to management for £7m. 23-Jul-1998 Hampson Industries, the specialist engineering concern, has acquired Walburton Holdings and its trading division WB for £2.7m. 23-Jul-1998 Jacobs Holdings has bought Kenfield and JP Holdings, two vehicle recovery companies, for £2.7m. 23-Jul-1998 Hurst Publishing, the publisher of Auto Trader magazine, has been acquired by the BC Partners venture capital group for £260m, and a trade sale or flotation could follow later. 23-Jul-1998 Airtours has acquired Direct Holidays, the Glasgow-based tour operator that has 25% of the telephone booking market, for £81m, which will take it into direct selling for the first time. 22-Jul-1998 British Vita has acquired JGP, the thermoplastic compounding company, for £2.2m. 22-Jul-1998 Card Clear has acquired Retail Markets as well as an 85% stake in Master Change, which will provide it with currency exchange kiosks at a number of locations in the UK and Europe. 22-Jul-1998 Kingston Communications has sold Kingston SCL, the supplier of billing and operational support software, to management for £55m. 22-Jul-1998 NFC has acquired Walsh Western Group, the electronics logistics company that operates in Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands, for £8m. 21-Jul-1998 Davis Service is acquiring Laundrycraft, the linen rental concern, for £7.2m. 21-Jul-1998 Johnson Service, the dry-cleaning chain, is acquiring Connacht Court, the Irish textile rental company, for £33m. 21-Jul-1998 General Industries, the business finance concern, is set to acquire HACAS, the housing consultancy, for £6m, and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Assured Homes for £1.5m. 20-Jul-1998 Kingspan, the Irish cladding and insulation supplier, has acquired Interlink for an initial £6m. 20-Jul-1998 Perkins Foods has acquired Fresh-Pak Chilled Foods for £9.7m, its second acquisition in the chilled foods sector in three months. 18-Jul-1998 Rolfe & Nolan, the financial software company, is to sell its capital markets division to IQ Financial Systems of the US for £4.6m. 18-Jul-1998 BWI is to acquire RA Jones, the US packaging machinery company, for £33m, which will almost double its size and take it into new areas such as electronic packaging. 18-Jul-1998 Golden Vale has completed the acquisition of Rye Valley Foods, the Irish prepared frozen foods company that has a strong position in the UK market, for £17m. 18-Jul-1998 Radius, the computer services company, has received a £15m takeover offer from its management team. 18-Jul-1998 Colt Telecom has acquired Imaginet, the French internet service provider, for £12m. 17-Jul-1998 Trifast is acquiring Lancaster Fasteners, the supplier of thread cutting screws, for £2.25m. 17-Jul-1998 Siebe has acquired Electronic Measurement, the US power supplies manufacturer, for £34m, and it will form part of a new North American division called Lambda EMI. 17-Jul-1998 Sleepy Kids, the animation company, is to merge with three other media companies - Clipper Films, Ridgeway Films, and the Richard Digance Card Company - to create a new group called InkLine. 17-Jul-1998 Unilever has sold Plant Breeding International Cambridge, the leading breeder of wheat, to Monsanto of the US for £320m. 16-Jul-1998 Medialink Worldwide of the US is acquiring London Bureau, the UK TV consultancy and photographic agency, for £5m. 16-Jul-1998 Skillsgroup is selling its MBS operation to the Computer Company of the Netherlands for £1.8m. 16-Jul-1998 Cable & Wireless is set to buy the internet assets of MCI in a £1.2bn deal, in order to allow the US company to win regulatory approval for its merger with WorldCom. 15-Jul-1998 Courts is acquiring the Burns Philp chain of furniture stores in Fiji, which will give it a 60% share of the furniture retailing market. 15-Jul-1998 Tomkins has agreed to sell the toe cap business of its Firth Cleveland Engineering division to Dinkie Heel, the footwear component company, for £1.5m. 15-Jul-1998 Caverdale is selling its industrial products business to management for about £10m. 14-Jul-1998 Ellis & Everard is acquiring Performance Polymers, the US polymer distributor, for £7.8m, as part of a strategy to reduce its dependence on the more cyclical commodity chemicals sector. 14-Jul-1998 Glynwed International has acquired Williams Refrigeration for £44m, which will give it a leading position in the market for commercial catering equipment. 14-Jul-1998 Berisford is to acquire CP Hart, the bathroom distributor, for £14m, in order to move into the higher-margin end of the market and expand geographical coverage. 13-Jul-1998 ED&F Man is to buy the brokerage accounts division of First Options of Chicago for about £7m, as part of a strategy to expand its financial services business through bolt-on acquisitions. 13-Jul-1998 Norcros is to sell its Norprint labelling business to management for £8m, in order to focus on ceramics and speciality chemicals. 13-Jul-1998 Eurocamp is to acquire Baldwin, the tour operator and restaurant group, for £35m, which will increase its share of the camping market from 40% to 55% and add additional European countries to its brochure. 11-Jul-1998 BTP has acquired Bactria Biocides from Revertex Chemicals for £6m, and will integrate the business with its Nipa Laboratories fine chemicals division. 10-Jul-1998 Hallmark Cards UK has acquired Creative Publishing, the greeting cards producer, for £188m, and the combined group will have a 29% market share. 10-Jul-1998 Mirror Group has acquired the Derry Journal newspaper in Northern Ireland for £18.2m, as part of a strategy to strengthen its position in regional newspapers. 09-Jul-1998 First Group has acquired CCB Holdings, the owner of Capital Citybus and Walthamstow Citybus, for £14m, which will increase its share of the London bus market from 11% to 16%. 09-Jul-1998 RPC is buying the German disposable packaging business of Gizeh from Deutsche Beteiligungs for £16m, which will make it the second largest producer of plastic cups in Europe. 08-Jul-1998 CMG has acquired Cometh Conseil and Cometh System, two French IT services companies, for £3m. 08-Jul-1998 Severfield-Reeve has sold Structural Metal Decks to a subsidiary of Firth Steels for £1.8m. 08-Jul-1998 Sutcliffe Speakman has bought Aegis Trading, the manufacturer and distributor of flame retardants, smoke suppressants and colour dispersions, for £3.2m. 08-Jul-1998 Tinsley Robor, the music packaging company, is to be acquired by Impac of the US for £84m. 08-Jul-1998 Neville Russell, the UK accounting firm, is to merge with Mazars & Guerard of France to create a combined firm with 3,500 staff in 26 countries. 07-Jul-1998 Gala Clubs has acquired Ritz for £36m, creating a combined chain of 147 bingo clubs. 07-Jul-1998 BTP is acquiring Archimica, the Italian fine chemicals company, for £100m, which will enable it to move into higher-value manufacturing of final ingredients for the pharmaceutical sector. 07-Jul-1998 ICC, the business information company, is acquiring Market Assessment Publications for undisclosed terms, which will enable it to offer customers a wider range of titles and more detailed research in a number of industry sectors. 03-Jul-1998 Metroline is acquiring the London Northern bus company from MTL Trust for £42m, which will increase its share of the London bus market from 7% to 13%. 03-Jul-1998 Harvey Goldsmith Entertainments is planning a reverse takeover of Tring, the lossmaking budget music company, in a £8m deal, and will then look for a number of additional acquisitions. 03-Jul-1998 Thorn is to acquire Eclipse Retail, the Australian rental company, for £25m, and will combine it with its Radio Rentals business in Australia and New Zealand which it will then sell off. 03-Jul-1998 CRH, the Irish building materials group, has announced 14 small acquisitions at a total cost of £70m, including a builders merchant in Stoke, a fencing company in Doncaster, and a number of deals in the US and Europe. 03-Jul-1998 Dixon Motors has acquired Cosmopolitan Motors, the London motorcycle dealership, for £1.5m, which takes its number of motorcycle outlets to eight. 02-Jul-1998 Doncasters has sold the automotive components business of its recently-acquired Triplex Lloyd division to the Phildrew venture capital group for £80m. 02-Jul-1998 Securicor is selling its telecoms systems business, which distributes branch exchange systems and handsets, to Samsung of South Korea for undisclosed terms. 02-Jul-1998 Sinclair Montrose has acquired ASA Locums, the provider of specialist medical staff, for up to £11m. 02-Jul-1998 Dixons is buying Seeboard's chain of 39 electrical retail stores for about £20m, and is said to be planning to close up to two thirds of them. 02-Jul-1998 AEA Technology is acquiring EA Systems, the Californian developer of engineering software, for £9m. 02-Jul-1998 Alliance Resources, the oil and gas production company, is acquiring Difco, which will give it a stake in a number of blocks in the east Irish Sea. 01-Jul-1998 Norcros has sold its Magnordata ticketmaking business to Docusystems of the US for £5.5m, as part of a strategy to focus on tiles, adhesives, showers and speciality chemicals. 01-Jul-1998 Arcadia is acquiring Wade Smith, the Liverpool-based designer clothing retailer, for £17m, and will use the brand to launch a chain of 30 designer children's wear stores. 01-Jul-1998 Greene King is acquiring Beards of Sussex, the chain of 43 pubs, for £12m. 01-Jul-1998 Nomura International is set to acquire Thorn, the rental group, for £980m, and the business is expected to be rationalised in preparation for a flotation. 01-Jul-1998 PowerGen has agreed to acquire East Midlands, the regional electricity supplier, for £1.9bn, and is also discussing a possible merger with Houston Industries of the US. 30-Jun-1998 Groupe Chez Gerard is acquiring Richoux, the chain of six restaurants, for £7.2m in order to speed up its expansion plans. 30-Jun-1998 PizzaExpress has acquired Cafe Pasta, the chain of eight London restaurants, for an initial £6m. 30-Jun-1998 TI Group has increased its stake in Lips, the Dutch supplier of marine propulsion equipment, from 30% to 100% at a cost of £88m. 30-Jun-1998 IMI has sold IMI Pactrol, its electronic controls division, to White-Rodgers of the US for £10m, in order to focus on its valves business. 30-Jun-1998 Hays has acquired Delta Medical Express, a courier service based in France and Belgium, for £2.2m, as well as three French recruitment agencies for £18m. 27-Jun-1998 GEC is to buy Siemens' 40% stake in their GPT telecoms joint venture, in a £700m deal that will also see GEC transfer its 50% stake in their video-conference joint venture to Siemens. 25-Jun-1998 Kingfisher is to increase its stake in BUT, the French electrical retailer, from 26% to about 62% at a cost of £103m, and will combine the business with its pan-European Kingfisher Electrical Retailing division. 24-Jun-1998 Stagecoach has acquired a 49% stake in Virgin Rail for £158m, which means that Virgin will not now go-ahead with a planned flotation. 23-Jun-1998 Atlantic Power, the oil and gas production management company, is to merge with Petroleum Geo Services, the Norwegian seismic specialist, in a £63m deal. 23-Jun-1998 Sytner Group has acquired the Guy Salmon car dealership from Meteor for £6.4m, which will add Jaguar and Honda to its portfolio. 23-Jun-1998 Duggan Steel is acquiring Tube Rollers, the Irish steel tube maker, from Jones Group for £1m. 23-Jun-1998 Micro Focus is acquiring Intersolv, the US computer services group, in a £334m share deal that will enable it to offer a wider range of IT solutions to its customers. 19-Jun-1998 First Choice is to acquire two holiday operators - Unijet for £110m and Hayes & Jarvis for £24m - in a move that is expected to increase its market share from 11% to 18%. 19-Jun-1998 Thomas Cook has acquired Flying Colours, the tour operator and charter airline, for a sum thought to be about £50m, which is expected to increase its market share from 11% to 16%. 19-Jun-1998 Phonelink is acquiring GB Mailing, the address software company, for up to £11m and Seaforths, the business travel agency that has developed electronic commerce products. 19-Jun-1998 British Vita is acquiring Hyperlast, the polyurethane business, for £35m, in order to strengthen its industrial compounds division. 19-Jun-1998 Cliveden, the luxury hotel business, is set to be acquired by a group of US investors called Destination Europe for £43m. 19-Jun-1998 Thorn has sold its US rentals business to Renters Choice for £545m, and a large amount of the proceeds will be returned to shareholders. 18-Jun-1998 Carlton Communications is planning to acquire Nimbus CD International, the US disk maker, for £160m, in order to give its Technicolor division access to the new digital versatile disks that are expected to replace CD-Roms and video cassettes. 18-Jun-1998 NTL has acquired two cable TV operators - ComTel and Diamond Cable - for a total £1.4bn, in a further rationalisation of the sector that has seen the number of companies fall from 24 to five in the past five years. 17-Jun-1998 Eadie Holdings is acquiring Black and Luff, the specialist engineer, for £2.5m. 17-Jun-1998 Blue Circle is to acquire Needler, the Canadian aggregates and concrete blocks company, for £17m in order to strengthen its position in Ontario. 17-Jun-1998 Cap Gemini of France has bought AT&T's UK division that develops network services and loyalty card schemes, for about £25m. 17-Jun-1998 Ace of Bermuda is acquiring Tarquin, the holding company that includes Charman Underwriting, for £311m in shares. 17-Jun-1998 Hunting is selling its Hunting Cargo Airlines business to a consortium comprising Compagnie Maritime Belge and Safair for £9m. 17-Jun-1998 Granada Entertainments has sold the Camelot theme park and hotel in Chorley to management for £16m. 16-Jun-1998 Rexam has bought Plasticos Dumex, the Mexican closures and containers company, for £5m. 16-Jun-1998 Epwin has acquired Bendex Plastics, the maker of PVC-u cabling systems and other building products, for £4.5m. 16-Jun-1998 London Scottish Bank, the consumer credit and debt collection concern, is acquiring Isis Factors, the invoice factoring company, for £6m. 16-Jun-1998 Pearson is to buy Thorpe Park, the Surrey theme park, from RMC for up to £20m, and will combine it with its Tussaud's Group subsidiary. 13-Jun-1998 Omnimedia is to acquire Sales Engineering and Computer Consultants in a £17m reverse takeover deal that will include a flotation on Aim and the raising of £3m to fund future expansion of the enlarged group. 13-Jun-1998 CFS, the financial software company, is to acquire LeaseTek, the US lease administration software supplier, for £10m, funded by a £12.8m share placing. 12-Jun-1998 Carlton Communications has acquired a 50% stake in Central de Video, the Mexican video cassette maker, for £9m. 12-Jun-1998 Carlton Communications has acquired National Screen Service, the distributor of promotional material on films to UK cinemas, from its management for £2.2m. 12-Jun-1998 Pubmaster is acquiring Mercury Taverns, the Midlands-based chain of 141 pubs, for £35m. 12-Jun-1998 Lonrho has agreed the sale of its Princess Hotels chain to Canadian Pacific for $540m, in order to focus on its mining activities. 12-Jun-1998 Network Associates of the US is to acquire DR Solomon's Group of the UK for £391m in order to strengthen its position in the European market for computer security software. 10-Jun-1998 Molins is selling its Langston corrugated board machinery business in the US to a portfolio company of BankBoston Capital for £30m. 10-Jun-1998 Reg Vardy has made a £36m offer for Trust Motor Group, in order to expand its car dealership business in Yorkshire, Scotland and Nottingham. 10-Jun-1998 SDX Business Systems, the provider of integrated voice and data systems, is to be acquired by Lucent Technologies of the US for £124m. 09-Jun-1998 Saatchi & Saatchi is selling its Siegel & Gale corporate identity consultancy in the US to management in a £20m deal. 09-Jun-1998 WH Smith is acquiring the Internet Bookshop, which claims to be Europe's largest internet bookshop, for £8.8m. 09-Jun-1998 Hewden Stuart, the equipment hire company, has sold three subsidiaries - Scot JCB, Gunn JCB, and Stewart Plant - to management for £11m. 06-Jun-1998 Vitec has acquired Drake Electronics of the UK for £2m and Systems Wireless of the US for £6.7m. 05-Jun-1998 Bowthorpe has acquired Conversion Equipment Corp, the US telecoms and computer power supplies business, for $13.7m. 05-Jun-1998 Yeoman, the navigational instrument maker, is to acquire Global Marine Electronics, the holding company for Brookes & Gatehouse, in a £2.7m reverse takeover. 04-Jun-1998 WPP has acquired Conway/Milliken & Associates, the US customer research company, as part of a strategy to expand its information and consultancy operations. 04-Jun-1998 EIS Group is selling Betol Machinery and Kabel Technik to Davis-Standard for £3.6m in order to focus on its fluid and precision technology business. 04-Jun-1998 Vardon has acquired Cannon Sports & Leisure for £25m, as part of a strategy to refocus its business on health and fitness clubs. 03-Jun-1998 Akzo Nobel of the Netherlands is set to go-ahead with its £1.83bn takeover of Courtaulds, having agreed to sell two of Courtaulds smaller coatings businesses to the rival bidder PPG Industries of the US. 03-Jun-1998 Arlen, the electronics company, is selling its Betraine subsidiary to The West Co Inc for £7.2m. 03-Jun-1998 Wolseley is acquiring three US building materials companies for a total £68m, including the Stock Lumber timber business, the Forward Enterprises pipe distribution business, and the Tozour Energy heating and ventilating business. 03-Jun-1998 Guardian Royal Exchange is acquiring ING's US property and casualty business for £1.15bn, and is selling its Canadian division to ING for $375m, in a deal that will strengthen its position in the US Midwest and north-east. 02-Jun-1998 Kier is planning to acquire Bellwinch for about £13m in order to expand its housebuilding business in the south-east. 02-Jun-1998 First Group is buying the remaining 80% of the Mainline bus company in a £30m deal, in order to strengthen its position in the West Yorkshire market. 02-Jun-1998 Lopex, the marketing and communications group, is acquiring Compass Marketing, the loyalty schemes specialist, for £2.7m. 01-Jun-1998 Cable & Wireless has bought the internet backbone business of MCI of the US for £385m, beating off competition from two unnamed US groups and giving C&W access to large US corporate customers. 29-May-1998 United Biscuits has acquired Biscuits Delacre, which operates in France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, from Campbell Soup for £78m. 27-May-1998 BTP is to acquire Hexachimie, the French fine chemicals business, from Bristol-Myers Squibb of the US for £53m, in order to improve its position in the manufacture of chemicals for use in the drug and agrochemicals sector. 27-May-1998 British Pepper & Spice Company, the dried herbs and spices supplier, has undergone a management buy-out from Burns Philp & Co, its Australian parent, with £7.6m of funding coming from Primary Capital. 26-May-1998 St Ives has launched a £33m recommended offer for Hunters Armley, the printing company, which will give it about 10% of the market for direct-mail printing. 23-May-1998 Greenway has acquired Excelube, the lubricants blender and distributor, from Brasway for £2.4m. 23-May-1998 Carclo Engineering has acquired the Wipac electrical components business from Wolseley for £2.3m. 23-May-1998 RMC Group has acquired Wulfrather, the German cement company, for £156m, and there is speculation that it may sell off some of Wulfrather's assets such as a cement plant in Coswig. 22-May-1998 IMI has sold Birmingham Mint, the coin manufacturer, to an institutional buy-out led by 3i for £18m, as part of the continuing transformation of its specialist engineering division. 22-May-1998 McKechnie is acquiring two US aircraft component companies - Arger and Jesse - for £54m in order to improve its engineering capabilities and gain access to blue-chip clients. 22-May-1998 Syndicate Capital is acquiring Spreckley Villers Burnhope, the non-marine underwriting agency, for £54m in a further consolidation of the Lloyd's of London insurance market. 22-May-1998 Vero is acquiring Danica, the Danish power supply manufacturer, for up to £11.8m. 21-May-1998 Ocean, the logistics company, is acquiring Mercury Holdings, the newspaper distribution business, for an initial £30m. 21-May-1998 Sutcliffe Speakman is to be renamed Banner Chemicals, and will focus on its chemicals distribution business following the sale of its carbons and environmental engineering divisions to Waterlink of the US. 21-May-1998 Blue Circle Industries has acquired the cement business of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile for £19m through its Empresas Melon subsidiary, and SQM will take a 14% stake in Melon. 21-May-1998 Belgo is acquiring three upmarket London restaurants for £9.3m - Daphne's, The Collection, and Pasha. 21-May-1998 Aberdeen Lloyd's Insurance Trust is acquiring Hayward Brick Stuchbery, the holding company for the Chaucer underwriting agency, in a £18m deal. 21-May-1998 Energy Group has announced the sale of the Peabody coal business in the US and Australia, as well as Citizens Power in the US, to the Lehman Merchant investment bank for £1.37bn. 21-May-1998 Nycomed Amersham is selling its chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing operations in Puerto Rico to Searle for £40m. 21-May-1998 Orbis is acquiring Hi-Security, the property security business, for £16m. 21-May-1998 Lambert Fenchurch is acquiring Delta Insurance Services, the Swedish marine broker, for an initial £1m. 21-May-1998 Associated British Ports has agreed to acquire American Port Services, the operator of car terminals at four US ports, for £106m, as part of a strategy to increase its range of services and expand overseas. 20-May-1998 TI Group is to acquire EIS Group, the fluid technology and aerospace concern, for £267m, and is now said to be interested in bidding for Vickers' Kamewa marine propulsion business. 20-May-1998 Nikko Europe of Japan has acquired Roadchef, the motorway service station operator, for £174m, having outbid a number of other interested parties. 20-May-1998 Commercial Union is acquiring Berlinische Lebensversicherung, the German insurer, from Munich Re and Allianz for £207m, in order to gain access to the deregulated German market. 20-May-1998 Glynwed has acquired Straub Holding, the Swiss stainless steel couplings concern, for £34m and will integrate the business with its pipe-systems division. 19-May-1998 Associated British Ports is acquiring Exxtor Group Shipping Services, the operator of a roll on-roll off terminal at Immingham for £16m. 19-May-1998 Pearson is acquiring Simon & Schuster, the US publisher, from Viacom for £2.75bn, and will retain the educational publishing side of the business and sell the remainder to Hicks Muse. 18-May-1998 Micro Focus has acquired Micro Focus Italia, its Italian software distributor, for £2.6m, as part of a strategy to offer global solutions to customers. 16-May-1998 Jermyn Investment Properties is acquiring ELP Property Group for £31m in order to expand its property portfolio in the south of England. 16-May-1998 L Gardner has acquired the Ilkeston aerospace operations of Chromalloy UK for £8.7m. 15-May-1998 Unilever has acquired AmeriClean Systems, the US cleaning products group, in a deal thought to be worth up to £30m. 14-May-1998 Enviros is acquiring Thomas Graveson, the generator of electricity from landfill gas, for £10m in its first move into the renewable energy sector. 14-May-1998 Tilbury Douglas is acquiring How Group, the facilities management and engineering services concern, for £47m. 14-May-1998 CWS Agriculture is to acquire Broadoak Farming, the farm management company that has been hit by a sharp fall in income. 14-May-1998 Ushers of Trowbridge is acquiring The Little Pub Company, which includes 20 pubs, for £6.5m. 13-May-1998 SDX Business Systems has acquired Network Alchemy, the supplier of ISDN router-based PBX, for £2.6m. 13-May-1998 Cobham is acquiring Conax, the US maker of military equipment, for £40m. 13-May-1998 Sun Chemical of the US is to acquire Gibbon, the UK printing inks company, for £26m. 13-May-1998 American Greetings Corp of the US has acquired Hanson White, the supplier of greetings cards, for undisclosed terms. 12-May-1998 Espirit Telecom is to acquire Plusnet of Germany from Thyssen for £108m, to help with its aim of becoming the leading alternative telecoms company in Europe. 12-May-1998 Andrews Sykes is acquiring Cox Plant Hire from Transport Development Group for £50m, its first move into the general plant hire market. 12-May-1998 First Choice is acquiring Royal Vacations, the Canadian tour operator, for £1.2m. 12-May-1998 Safestore is acquiring Metrostore, the self-storage company, for about £6m. 12-May-1998 Finelist is acquiring Bancrofts, the automotive paints distributor, from McLeod Russel for £16m. 12-May-1998 Capital Radio has acquired Red Dragon Radio, which operates two Welsh radio stations, from Emap for £18.2m. 08-May-1998 Pearson has acquired Pasha Publications, the publisher of newsletters on the energy sector, for $18m. 08-May-1998 IWP of Ireland is acquiring Jeyes, the cleaning fluids company, for £51m, which should improve its sales leverage with supermarket chains. 08-May-1998 Seton Healthcare, the medical products company, is to undergo a £691m merger with Scholl, the foot-care company, which will give Seton the opportunity to expand overseas and manufacture Scholl products at lower cost. 07-May-1998 Amey has acquired N Jones, the asbestos management company, for £2.5m. 07-May-1998 Grantchester Holdings has acquired Edge Properties, the retail warehouse investment company, for £126m, in order to benefit more from the growth in out-of-town retailing. 07-May-1998 Kingfisher is buying 60% stakes in two German electrical retailers - Wegert Verwaltungs and Promarkt Holding - for £49m, as part of a strategy to create a global retailing business. 06-May-1998 FKI has acquired Allen-Stevens Group, the US doors and windows hardware company, for £43m, which will give its existing US business a commanding position in the market for window locking systems. 06-May-1998 BTR has sold the Hawker Pacific and Hawker de Havilland aerospace businesses in Australia to Celsius of Sweden and Tenix of Australia respectively for a total £62m. 06-May-1998 ICI has acquired Mona Industries, the US-based surfactants business, for about £25m. 06-May-1998 Tomkins has acquired Le Pain Croustillant, the part-baked frozen bread company, for £44m. 06-May-1998 Field Group has acquired Egelhard, the French cartons company, for £2.7m. 04-May-1998 John Lusty is acquiring Unimerchants, the importer of Mediterranean food products, for up to £6.5m. 04-May-1998 Partco has acquired SVG, the supplier of automotive body panels, for £4.5m. 04-May-1998 Norman Hay is acquiring BK Engineering, the sub-contract precision engineering concern, for £2.4m. 04-May-1998 Cendant of the US looks set to acquire the RAC motoring services business for £450m, which it will be able to merge with the recently-acquired Green Flag vehicle recovery service to create a powerful rival to the Automobile Association. 02-May-1998 CRH of Ireland is acquiring MA Segale, the US aggregates, paving and construction business, for £36m. 02-May-1998 Goode Durrant is selling its Ravenstock Tam equipment hire business to management for £26m, in order to focus on its commercial vehicle hire business. 02-May-1998 Expro International, the oil services concern, has acquired Tronic, the instrument and power systems company, for £14.8m. 02-May-1998 Scottish Telecom, part of Scottish Power, is acquiring Demon Internet, the internet service provider, for £66m and the move is expected to give Demon the resources to expand further into mainland Europe. 02-May-1998 Capital Radio has acquired XFM, the London pop music radio station, for £16m. 02-May-1998 Dalgety is selling its agriculture division to a management team for £50m, and is now free to concentrate on its last remaining business - the Pig Improvement Company. 02-May-1998 GE Capital Railcar Services, a subsidiary of General Electric of the US, is acquiring International Wagon Services, the rail freight car company, for undisclosed terms. 02-May-1998 Powerscreen is selling its troubled Matbro specialist tractors business to John Deere of the US for £7m. 01-May-1998 Stagecoach has bought Prestwick International, the operator of the Glasgow airport, for £41m, and is creating a new company called Stagecoach Aviation. 01-May-1998 Wagon Industrial has acquired YMOS Door Systems, the German maker of car doors, for £46m. 01-May-1998 Thompson Acquisitions has acquired Usborne, the fertiliser company, for £10.7m. 01-May-1998 Soda-Club Group of Israel has bought SodaStream, the Peterborough-based soda-making machines supplier, for £15.5m, and the new group will be floated early next year. 01-May-1998 Hemingway, the property investment company, is to acquire Olives Property for £28.6m in order to gain access to a portfolio of industrial properties. 30-Apr-1998 Elan Corp of Ireland has acquired Neurex, the Californian developer of acute care drugs, for $700m. 30-Apr-1998 Starbucks of the US is acquiring Seattle Coffee, the chain of 56 coffee houses, for £50m, and plans to build up a European chain of 500 stores. 30-Apr-1998 Amazon of the US has acquired Bookpages, the UK internet bookshop, as part of a European expansion programme. 29-Apr-1998 The British Standards Institution is to acquire Inspectorate for £36.5m, in order to help build up an international business for assessing quality standards and to benefit from its new-found commercial freedom. 29-Apr-1998 Reed Elsevier is acquiring two US legal publishing businesses from Times Mirror for £980m - Matthew Bender and the remaining 50% of Shepard's Company. 28-Apr-1998 Commercial Union has acquired National Farmers Union, the US agricultural insurer, for £71m. 28-Apr-1998 Rexam has bought Lawson Mardon's medical products division, which exports packaging, bags and pouches for hospitals, for £5.3m. 28-Apr-1998 Siebe is to acquire Eurotherm, the industrial controls company, for £421m, which will make it the largest process automation group in the world. 28-Apr-1998 Sowester, the marine equipment distributor, has been sold to management for £10m by its US parent Krug International. 27-Apr-1998 Great Universal Stores has won its takeover battle for Argos having received sufficient acceptances from shareholders for the £1.9bn bid. 25-Apr-1998 Pearson has sold its Future Publishing consumer magazines business to a management team backed by Apax Partners for £142m. 25-Apr-1998 WPP is acquiring Goldfarb Corporation, the Canadian marketing research consultancy, for £24m. 24-Apr-1998 Abbey National has announced the sale of its Spanish operations to Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo for about £120m, due to recurring losses. 23-Apr-1998 Saint Gobain of France has acquired Oliver Ashworth, the pipeline products distributor, for £34m, and further UK acquisitions could follow. 23-Apr-1998 Hanson is selling its US road paving operation to Colas of France for £55m and will use the proceeds to invest in its core activities. 22-Apr-1998 Boxmore International is acquiring Munier Cartonnage, the French supplier of packaging to the health care sector, for up to £4.2m. 22-Apr-1998 United Overseas Group, the distributor of surplus branded consumer goods, is acquiring Intertrading Agencies Boersema Beheer of the Netherlands for £22m, in order to speed up its expansion into continental Europe. 22-Apr-1998 NSB Retail Systems is acquiring Application Programming Techniques, the US software supplier to the retail sector, for £3.2m, in order to widen its customer base and bring in skilled IT staff and new technology. 22-Apr-1998 Eastern Counties Newspapers is acquiring Home Counties Newspapers for £58m, thereby beating off a £60m approach from Southnews. 22-Apr-1998 Akzo Nobel of the Netherlands has launched a £1.8bn agreed takeover bid for Courtaulds, which will make it the largest paints company in the world. 21-Apr-1998 Tomkins has sold Axis Resources, its IT subsidiary, to management for £18m. 20-Apr-1998 Wace is selling most of its UK printing business to Electra Fleming for £53m, in order to eliminate borrowings and focus on pre-press graphics and imaging. 17-Apr-1998 Cookson is set to acquire AlliedSignal's European copper-clad laminates business for about £10m, which will give it its first manufacturing base in Germany. 17-Apr-1998 Abbey National has acquired TSB Factors, the factoring and invoice discounting business, from Lloyds TSB for undisclosed terms and will rename it First National Invoice Finance. 17-Apr-1998 Investcorp of Bahrain has won government approval to acquire both Watmoughs and the British Printing Company in order to create the UK's largest independent commercial printing group. 16-Apr-1998 NTL is to acquire NetChannel UK, the interactive TV business, for about $1m in order to offer home shopping services and internet access to cable TV subscribers. 16-Apr-1998 Telewest Communications has finalised terms for the £649m acquisition of General Cable, the fifth largest cable TV operator. 16-Apr-1998 Croda International has sold its industrial paints operation to Ameron International of the US for £28m in order to focus on oleochemicals, and is also in discussions to sell its paints joint venture with Hoechst. 15-Apr-1998 Perkins Foods has acquired Le Magicien Vert, the French chilled convenience foods company, for an initial £4.5m. 15-Apr-1998 Royal & Sun Alliance is acquiring J Haenecour, the Belgian marine underwriter, for under £5m. 15-Apr-1998 RPS Group is buying Utility Technical Services, the water management consultancy based in Durham, for £1.5m. 15-Apr-1998 Orbis is selling its manpower security division to a management buy-out called First Security for £9m, in order to focus on its property and electronic security business. 15-Apr-1998 Inspec is selling its Antwerp-based commodity chemicals business, which makes ethylene oxide and glycol, to management for £82m, and is likely to use the proceeds to make acquisitions in speciality chemicals. 15-Apr-1998 Great Universal Stores has succeeded with its £545m takeover battle for Metromail, the US database marketer, having beaten off a rival offer from American Business Information. 14-Apr-1998 Lynx has acquired Tenhill Computer Systems, the software consultancy, for £10m. 14-Apr-1998 Waddington has sold its Waddington Arcol protective foam packaging business to Padiham Group for £6.6m. 14-Apr-1998 GEC Alsthom has acquired Cegelec, the French electrical contracting business, from Alcatel Alsthom for about £400m. 10-Apr-1998 Hanson has agreed to sell its US road building business to Colas of France for up to $95m, and is close to selling its heavy construction business to Skanska of Sweden for $55m. 09-Apr-1998 James Finlay has acquired Plantation Investment Management, the Sri Lankan investment company with majority stakes in two tea growing companies, for £16m. 09-Apr-1998 Severn Trent has acquired Fischer and Porter of the US for £10m, giving it a leading position in the world market for chlorine disinfection equipment. 09-Apr-1998 Cox Insurance is acquiring Anthony Kidd Agencies, the travel and personal accident insurance distributor, for £14m. 09-Apr-1998 Action Computer Supplies has acquired SHL Technology Solutions' UK reseller business for £8m. 09-Apr-1998 Rexam is acquiring Tritek Cardboard Packaging, the Newcastle-based corrugated sheet board converter, for £6.7m. 09-Apr-1998 Savoy Hotel has been acquired by Blackstone Hotel Acquisitions, the US company controlled by Blackstone and Colony Capital, for £520m. 08-Apr-1998 Norwich Union is selling its Maritime Insurance business to CNA Financial Corp of Chicago for £56m. 08-Apr-1998 Flying Flowers has acquired Stanley Gibbons, the stamp dealer, for £13.5m, as part of a strategy to build up its mail order business with strong brand names in niche markets. 08-Apr-1998 Kingfisher has acquired F-Beat Records, the owner of the Demon Records music company, for about £2m. 07-Apr-1998 Tele-Cine Cell, the post-production company, is to be acquired by Todd-AO of the US for £10m. 07-Apr-1998 Punch Taverns is buying 1,428 pubs from Bass, and will invest £40m to increase their profitability. 07-Apr-1998 Oxford Molecular is set to acquire Chemical Design Holdings, the pharmaceutical software company, for about £6m. 06-Apr-1998 Investec of South Africa has acquired Guinness Mahon, the merchant bank, from the Bank of Yokohama for £95m, and the deal also includes the Henderson Crosthwaite private client stockbroking business and a 44% stake in Guinness Flight Hambro Asset Management. 03-Apr-1998 ICI is planning to sell Crosfield Group, the maker of catalysts for detergents and silicas, to WR Grace of the US for £272m. 03-Apr-1998 Powerscreen International is selling its Universal Conveyor subsidiary to E-type Cars for £1.8m. 03-Apr-1998 Domnick Hunter has acquired Xebec, the Canadian compressed air and gas dryers company, for up to £1.5m. 03-Apr-1998 Bradford & Bingley has agreed terms to acquire the Black Horse estate agency chain from Lloyds TSB for £56m, which will give it a much stronger presence in the south of England. 02-Apr-1998 Meyer International is selling its Montague L Meyer wood wholesaling business to management for up to £40m, and it has also sold a Dutch DIY business for £34m and a UK supplier of timber frames for £0.6m. 02-Apr-1998 TCS Consumer Services of the US has acquired Interglobe Telecommunications, the UK phone card services group, for £12m, making it the largest independent phone card company in Europe. 02-Apr-1998 Norbrook Laboratories, the animal health concern, is planning to buy J Webster Laboratories, the Canadian anti-bacterials company, from Merial for about £17m. 01-Apr-1998 NRP, the financial services and residential property company, is planning a £3.5m reverse takeover of Teather & Greenwood, the stockbroker. 01-Apr-1998 Fenner is selling its power transmission business to a management buy-in company called FPT Group, and will use the proceeds to invest in polymer products, hydraulics and conveyor belts. 01-Apr-1998 ICI has acquired Acheson Industries, the US speciality chemicals company that makes coatings for TVs and lubricants, for £333m, and will merge it with its National Starch & Chemical division. 31-Mar-1998 Avonmore Waterford is selling two US food businesses - Waterford Food Products and Avonmore Cheese - to Saputo of Canada for £21m. 31-Mar-1998 NatWest Equity Partners has sold Zincocelere, the Italian manufacturer of printed circuit boards, to Viasystems of Italy for over £60m. 30-Mar-1998 Unilever has acquired a controlling stake in Moskovsky Margarinovy Zavod, the Russian margarine and fats company, for undisclosed terms and will invest £12m in the company. 30-Mar-1998 Birchin International is raising £1.4m in a share offer in order to fund the acquisition of Swinton Castle, as it transforms its business from book publishing to residential training. 30-Mar-1998 Bowthorpe is acquiring General Easter Instruments, the US supplier of humidity sensors, for £12.5m. 27-Mar-1998 Go-Ahead Group is planning to take full control of Thames Trains, which has a franchise to operate trains between Oxford and London Paddington, at a cost of £6.1m. 27-Mar-1998 Vaux is to acquire Manor Hotels, the operator of three hotels in East Anglia, for £20m. 26-Mar-1998 Seton Healthcare has acquired EMS Medical's urology business for £3.5m. 26-Mar-1998 WPP Group has bought two US marketing consultancies - Charles Rivers Strategies and MSC Channel Research and Consulting. 26-Mar-1998 Abbott Mead Vickers has sold its Leagas Delaney advertising agency to management for £4m. 26-Mar-1998 Delta is to acquire Holec Holland, the Dutch electrical switchgear manufacturer, for £83m. 25-Mar-1998 Gerber Scientific of the US is acquiring Spandex, the signmaking equipment company, for £109m. 25-Mar-1998 National Parking Corporation, the owner of 500 car parks and the Green Flag recovery service, is being acquired by Cendant of the US in a £801m deal. 24-Mar-1998 Waterfall Holdings is buying Radion, the Essex-based chain of pool halls, bowling alleys, health clubs and pubs, in a £14m deal. 23-Mar-1998 Toad is acquiring Sextons, the distributor of car stereo and security systems, for £10m, and says the deal will make it the largest car electronics company in the UK. 20-Mar-1998 Blue Circle has sold its Blue Circle Incineration subsidiary to a management team for £3m. 20-Mar-1998 Rexam is selling its Smith & McLaurin self-adhesive labels business to management for £12.4m. 19-Mar-1998 Bass has sold its Barcrest gaming machine manufacturing business to International Game Technology of the US for £42m. 18-Mar-1998 Rubicon is selling its lead products and specialist castings divisions to a management team for £62m, and will use the proceeds to invest in electronic manufacturing services and magnets. 17-Mar-1998 Finelist is acquiring Lucas Service UK, the distributor of vehicle parts, from LucasVarity for £33m, which will improve its position in the market for diesel engine and fuel injection parts. 17-Mar-1998 Smiths Industries is selling the recently-acquired Graseby's product monitoring and environmental divisions to Thermo Electron of the US for £44m, and will use the proceeds to cut debt. 17-Mar-1998 WS Atkins has acquired Silk & Frazier, the quantity surveying practice, for £5.1m. 17-Mar-1998 Apollo Metals has acquired Bunting Titanium, the titanium business, for £1.9m. 17-Mar-1998 Bullough is acquiring Flexiform, the steel storage maker, for £10m. 17-Mar-1998 BTR is selling its Australian building materials and Formica laminates businesses to CVC Capital Partners for about £650m, as part of a strategy to focus on engineering. 17-Mar-1998 Beck & Politzer, the industrial plant group, has been sold to management and Gresham Trust for £23m. 16-Mar-1998 Great Universal Stores is acquiring Metromail, the US database marketing company, for about £500m, as part of a strategy to build up a US information services business. 14-Mar-1998 Dunloe House of Ireland has claimed victory in its takeover battle for Ewart, the Northern Ireland property company, having gained acceptances for 52% of the target shares. 14-Mar-1998 Westbury is to acquire John Maunders, the housebuilder, for £55m, in order to increase its presence in the north west of England and make cost savings. 13-Mar-1998 Hogg Robinson is acquiring Destination Services Russia, its Russian partner in Business Travel International, for up to £1.4m. 13-Mar-1998 Widney is selling its SPC International subsidiary to a management buy-out for £5.7m. 13-Mar-1998 Mayflower has sold its Ribbons seat belt subsidiary to a company set up by Gresham Trust for £6.5m. 12-Mar-1998 Newsquest Media has acquired Property Weekly, the publisher of property advertising newspapers, for £2.5m. 12-Mar-1998 Haden MacLellan has acquired MBS Distribution, the industrial fastenings company, from Vector Industries for £24m, which will enable it to expand further into Europe and increase its presence in the automotive market. 12-Mar-1998 Mirror Group is selling its 46% stake in The Independent to Independent Newspapers for £3m, but will retain a contract to print and distribute the newspapers for the next five years. 12-Mar-1998 Hanson has sold Grove Worldwide, its US crane making business, to Keystone for £380m. 12-Mar-1998 Camden Graphics, the greeting cards company, is being acquired by American Greetings of the US for undisclosed terms. 11-Mar-1998 API is to acquire Astor Universal, the foil packaging company, from Markem Corporation of the US for £30m, in order to gain access to Astor's cold foil technology and improve its product range and geographical coverage. 11-Mar-1998 WH Smith has confirmed that it is planning to buy the John Menzies retail chain for £68m, which will result in some job losses and the rebranding of the Menzies stores in England and Wales. 10-Mar-1998 Avon Rubber is acquiring Hi-Life Rubber, the US manufacturer of liners for the dairy industry, for £22m, as part of a strategy to expand its product portfolio and geographical coverage. 10-Mar-1998 Reed Elsevier has called off its £17bn merger with Wolters Kluwer, following an attempt by Wolters to renegotiate terms because of fears that the European Commission would force the combined group to dispose of a large part of the tax and legal publishing business. 10-Mar-1998 Tarmac has acquired a US concrete paving business from Marshalls for £18m, which will expand its presence in the southern states. 09-Mar-1998 First Group is acquiring Great Western Trains for £148m, a controversial move that will generate big profits for the former British Rail managers that bought Great Western. 07-Mar-1998 Pearson is to sell its Mindscape software business in the US to The Learning Company for £90m, leaving Pearson with a £212m loss on disposal. 07-Mar-1998 Royal & Sun Alliance is acquiring the New Zealand life assurance and investment operation of Norwich Union for £54m, which will enable it to cut costs and improve distribution in the Pacific Rim region. 07-Mar-1998 Barcom, the plant-hire company, has been acquired by GE Capital of the US for £41m, and GE is expected to follow this with similar acquisitions as it aims to become a leader in the UK plant-hire market. 07-Mar-1998 Avon Rubber is acquiring Cow Polymers, the maker of rubber mouldings for the auto industry, from Unipoly Industrials for £10m. 06-Mar-1998 Jacobs Holdings has acquired Societe Vendomoise de Transports de Vehicules, the French car transportation group, for £3.9m. 06-Mar-1998 More Group is to be acquired by Clear Channel Communications of the US for £446m, which will create the largest outdoor advertising company in the world. 06-Mar-1998 IMI has sold its industrial heat exchanger division to Chart Industries of the US for £21m. 06-Mar-1998 Lawson Mardon Carton Europe has been bought by a management buy-in team for about £40m, and under its new name of First Cartons will offer a Europe-wide service for the supply of cartons to the confectionery, food and spirits sectors. 05-Mar-1998 Faber Prest, the steel products distributor, is to be acquired by Harsco of the US for £57m, and the combined group expects to benefit from cost cutting and greater efficiencies. 05-Mar-1998 Cadence Design Systems of the US has acquired Symbionics, the Cambridge-based chip design business, for undisclosed terms. 04-Mar-1998 Brunner Mond has completed the acquisition of the soda ash business of Akzo Nobel of the Netherlands, which makes it the second largest soda ash producer in Europe. 03-Mar-1998 Rexam has acquired NatWest Print, the cheque book printing operation of National Westminster bank, for £8.5m. 03-Mar-1998 Hampson Industries has acquired Attewell Group, which includes Attewell and Pillar Seals & Gaskets, for £10m. 03-Mar-1998 Hutchison Whampoa has bought the port of Harwich from HSBC Private Equity for a sum thought to be over £100m, and it plans to develop the port as a stop-off for cruise liners and as an entry point to mainland Europe. 03-Mar-1998 CMG has acquired Microlex, the financial services software concern, for up to £18m. 03-Mar-1998 BTR has sold its glass and plastic bottling operations to Owens-Illinois of the US for £2.2bn, and Owens-Illinois is now hoping that European regulators will not object to its strong position in the glass packaging market. 03-Mar-1998 Perkins Foods is selling its fresh produce business to Greenery International of the Netherlands for £124m, in order to focus on chilled and frozen foods. 03-Mar-1998 Pearson has sold its law and tax publishing business to Thomson Corp for £70m. 03-Mar-1998 Travis Perkins is acquiring Sherry & Haycock, the Wiltshire builders merchant, for £13m. 03-Mar-1998 United News & Media has sold United Provincial Newspapers, the publisher of the Yorkshire Post, to Candover Investments for £360m, and its Spanish regional publishing operation to Hebdo Mag International for £43m. 28-Feb-1998 Emap is to acquire London-based Melody Radio for £25m, but will have to sell its Cardiff radio stations to comply with regulations on radio ownership. 27-Feb-1998 Tibbett & Britten has acquired Causse Walon, the French vehicle distribution and storage business, for £14m through Axial, its existing French logistics subsidiary. 27-Feb-1998 Commercial Union and General Accident have agreed a £14bn merger to create a new group called CGU that will be the UK's second-biggest insurer, and about 5,000 jobs will be lost. 26-Feb-1998 Rank Group is acquiring Parkdean Holidays, the provider of self-catering holidays, from Vardon for £38m and will convert the 10 sites to its Haven format. 26-Feb-1998 Shanks & McEwan is buying a number of Belgian waste management businesses from Sita for £67m. 26-Feb-1998 Siebe is to acquire Wonderware, the US supplier of factory-control systems, for £225m. 25-Feb-1998 Tarmac and Bovis are to merge their plant hire operations into a joint venture called Castlewyse, which will unite Bovis's Wyseplant branches with those of Tarmac's Castle Plant Services subsidiary. 25-Feb-1998 First Leisure has sold its Riva Clubs chain of 22 bingo clubs to a management team for £38m, in order to focus on health and fitness, bowling and night clubs. 24-Feb-1998 Rexam is acquiring Pajco Products, the US paper coverings business, for £13m and will integrate it with its coated paper business based in Massachusetts. 24-Feb-1998 Investcorp of Bahrain has made an agreed £250m offer to acquire Watmoughs, as well as an undisclosed offer to buy the British Printing Company, as it aims to create the UK's largest commercial printing company. 24-Feb-1998 Cookson has acquired Flogates and KSR, two Sheffield-based refractories companies, for £50m using the proceeds from its withdrawal from its joint venture with Johnson Matthey. 24-Feb-1998 Coda, the accountancy software company, has been acquired by Baan of the Netherlands for £53m. 24-Feb-1998 Bass has reached agreement to acquire InterContinental Hotels and Resorts from Saison of Japan for £1.7bn, beating off competition from Marriott International and others. 21-Feb-1998 Northern Foods has acquired Woodgate Dairies, the East Sussex supplier of milk to supermarkets, for £17m. 21-Feb-1998 AEA Technology has acquired Nycomed Amersham's industrial services unit for an initial £16m. 21-Feb-1998 Barlows, the property company, has sold Rowlinson Constructions to management for £1.1m. 21-Feb-1998 Siebe is to acquire Coleman Safety and Security Products, the US maker of home safety equipment, for £64m. 20-Feb-1998 Somerfield and Kwik Save have agreed a £1.4bn merger that will lead to the creation of a £6bn food retailing business, but job losses could result from the closure of a number of Kwik Save stores and the Prestatyn head office. 20-Feb-1998 Roxspur is acquiring Clayhithe, the measurement systems company, for £30m, which will give it access to products complementary to its existing range in the areas of temperature, flow, level and pressure control. 19-Feb-1998 Southnews is acquiring the southern regional newspapers business of United News & Media for £47.5m. 19-Feb-1998 GEC Alsthom has finalised a deal to acquire Wessex Traincare, the former British Rail rolling stock repair company. 18-Feb-1998 Cementone is acquiring ITE, the international trade show business, for £65m, and will change its name to ITE Group. 18-Feb-1998 Unilever is selling its Robert Timms, Pablo and Faggs coffee businesses in Australasia to Freshfood Australia and New Zealand for undisclosed terms. 18-Feb-1998 Hanson is acquiring HG Fenton, the US aggregates company, for £50m, as part of a strategy to benefit from the consolidation currently taking place in the US aggregates market. 18-Feb-1998 Northern Foods is acquiring Cavaghan & Gray, the chilled and frozen food company, for £79m. 18-Feb-1998 Healthcall, the provider of night call services for doctors, is to be acquired by a management team for £50m. 17-Feb-1998 Microvitec has sold its monitor displays business to Conrac Technology of the US for £1.4m in an attempt to raise cash to save the main business. 17-Feb-1998 Sibir Energy has launched a £62m recommended bid for Pentex Energy, its former parent company, which will give it the additional skills it requires for its new oil exploration interests in Russia. 17-Feb-1998 GEC has sold GEC Plessey Semiconductors to Mitel of Canada for £140m, thereby completing its withdrawal from unwanted industrial businesses. 14-Feb-1998 Finelist is acquiring Independent Parts Group, the maker of vehicle components, for £38m, and expects the deal will generate cost savings and efficiencies in distribution. 14-Feb-1998 ISA International, the computer supplies company, is planning to acquire John Heath, the office supplies company, for £29m in shares. 14-Feb-1998 Westminster Healthcare has acquired Magnetic Resonance Imaging for £3.5m, in order to strengthen its diagnostics division in the south east. 13-Feb-1998 Trocadero has bought five London bars trading under the Venom, Oxygen, Zoo Bar and Bar Madrid names for £10.5m. 13-Feb-1998 BICC and Delta have agreed a £40m asset swap that will see Delta acquire BICC's construction and building wire business and BICC acquire Delta's power and rubber cables business, and about 870 jobs could be lost as a result. 13-Feb-1998 Cala has acquired Victor Homes, the Yorkshire-based housebuilder, for an initial £2.8m, thereby expanding its coverage into the north of England. 13-Feb-1998 RMC has sold its 50% stake in Chaufournieres de Hergenrath, the lime producer, to its Belgian joint venture partner for £54m, and the proceeds will help finance the recent acquisitions of four German concrete companies. 12-Feb-1998 Milner Estates is to acquire the Five Oaks property company for £41m, and plans to make further acquisitions in future. 12-Feb-1998 Chestertons, the property and estate agent group, has agreed a £70m deal to merge with Summit Group. 12-Feb-1998 Laughton Rainsford has acquired Thomas Cork, the provider of in-store merchandising displays, for £32m. 11-Feb-1998 Intrum Justitia, the debt collection agency, is being acquired by a new company called Collector in a £126m deal that will return it to private hands. 11-Feb-1998 Rexam has reduced its stake in Graphocolor, the French metallised packaging company, from 50% to 20%, and sold its J Arthur Dixon greetings card business, raising a total £2.1m. 10-Feb-1998 Eurotherm has acquired Action Instruments, the US manufacturer of monitoring instrumentation, for £9.5m. 10-Feb-1998 MY Holdings is planning to acquire Farmoprint, the Italian packaging company, for up to £3m, and is also said to be planning marketing alliances in France and Germany. 10-Feb-1998 P&O Nedlloyd has bought the Blue Star Line container shipping company from the Vestey Group for £60m. 10-Feb-1998 NatWest has sold County NatWest Australia, the equities and corporate finance operation, to Salomon Smith Barney of the US for £52m. 10-Feb-1998 CSI, the TV sports rights marketing company, has been acquired by Interpublic of the US for undisclosed terms. 10-Feb-1998 Serco has bought Tecnodata, the Italian computer support services company, for about £9m. 10-Feb-1998 Getty Communications has acquired Allsport, the sports photographic agency, for £18m, and will use the business to sell images via the internet. 09-Feb-1998 GEC has sold Marconi Instruments, the measuring instruments business, to IFR Systems of the US for £65m, as part of a strategy to focus on defence, electronics and telecoms. 07-Feb-1998 Rolfe & Nolan, the financial services software company, has received a £71m recommended takeover offer from SunGard Data Systems of the US. 06-Feb-1998 Sears has sold its Cable & Co chain of shoe shops to Nine West of the US for £6m, thus completing its exit from the shoe business. 06-Feb-1998 Dairy Crest, through its joint venture with Sodiaal of France, is acquiring Raines Dairy Foods Operating Companies, the supplier of dairy products to supermarkets, for £66m. 06-Feb-1998 Intercare has acquired Freeman Pharmaceuticals for £3.4m. 06-Feb-1998 Burmah Castrol has sold its 50% stake in a Japanese LNG venture to Mitsui OSK Lines and Nissho Iwai Corporation for £42m, in order to focus on lubricants and speciality chemicals. 05-Feb-1998 A new company called Dataforce has been created to acquire two direct mail companies - Mailforce Group and Eros Marketing Support Services - for £14.5m. 05-Feb-1998 Dalgety has sold its Spillers pet food business to Nestle for £715m and its Martin-Brower US distribution business to Reyes Holdings for £120m. 05-Feb-1998 Target, the Coventry-based privately-owned parcels delivery company, is undergoing a management buy-out for undisclosed terms, with the backing of Legal & General Ventures. 05-Feb-1998 Senior Engineering has acquired Bredan Kompensator Fabrik, the Danish manufacturer of expansion joints, for £4.4m. 04-Feb-1998 AEA Technology is acquiring Code International, the producer of lifetime prediction software, for £6.9m. 04-Feb-1998 Meggitt has bought Hayes Targets, the US developer of infra-red suppresser counter-measures and weapons training aids, from Pemco Aeroplex for $5m. 04-Feb-1998 Waddington has acquired Trans Container Corporation, the Californian manufacturer of plastic bottles for pills, for £20m, in order to complement its existing healthcare packaging business on the other side of the US. 04-Feb-1998 TI Group's John Crane division is acquiring Safematic, the Finnish supplier of pulp and paper sealing systems, for £17m. 04-Feb-1998 Firth Rixson is selling its Lion Steel Equipment steel cabinets business to management for £3.6m. 04-Feb-1998 Warings, the Portsmouth construction business, has been bought by a management team for £12m. 04-Feb-1998 Enterprise Inns is acquiring Gibbs Mew, the chain of 310 pubs, for £48m and plans to convert 27 managed pubs to tenanted status. 04-Feb-1998 Henderson, the UK fund manager, is being acquired by Australian Mutual Provident for £382m, and the two companies now expect to be able to offer a wider range of products. 04-Feb-1998 WT Foods has acquired Eghoyan's Pitta Bakery, the London-based producer of ethnic foods, for £5.1m. 03-Feb-1998 Guinness Mahon Holdings has sold Guinness Mahon Development Capital, which invests in small unquoted companies, to a management team for about £1m. 03-Feb-1998 National Westminster Bank has sold its Canadian bank to Hong Kong Bank of Canada for undisclosed terms. 03-Feb-1998 Misys has sold its computer services business to a management team for £10m, in order to focus on software products. 03-Feb-1998 Flemings is acquiring Banco Graphus, the Brazilian investment bank, for about $50m as part of a strategy to expand in emerging markets. 02-Feb-1998 Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham are planning a £100bn merger to create the largest pharmaceuticals company in the world, thereby putting an end to SmithKline's plans to merge with American Home Products. 31-Jan-1998 TransTec is to acquire Cremsa, the Spanish car parts maker, for up to £27m, in order to gain its first manufacturing base in continental Europe. 31-Jan-1998 Kode International, the printed circuit board maker, has agreed to a £14m takeover offer from Cornerstone Equity Investors of the US. 31-Jan-1998 Cavaghan & Gray has acquired John Richards, the Aberdeen fish processing company, for £1.3m. 30-Jan-1998 Glaxo Wellcome is acquiring an 80% stake in Polfa Poznan, the Polish drugs company, for £132m as part of a strategy to expand in emerging markets. 29-Jan-1998 Sage is acquiring State of the Art, a Californian supplier of accountancy software, for £160m in its largest acquisition to date. 28-Jan-1998 Northern Foods has confirmed plans to demerge its Express Dairies division in March, and it is then planning to participate in the expected consolidation of the dairy sector. 27-Jan-1998 Knickerbox, the underwear retailer, has been bought from administration by corporate recovery specialist Klesch Capital Partners for undisclosed terms, and the shops will now be refurbished and expanded. 27-Jan-1998 NatWest Markets is selling its Asian equities and corporate finance business to a joint venture of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Hong Kong's Bank of East Asia for about £10m, as part of a strategy to withdraw from equities. 27-Jan-1998 Dalgety is selling its food ingredients and Spillers flour milling operations to Kerry Group of Ireland for £335m, and its wheat processing research activities to DuPont for £24m. 27-Jan-1998 Fairey has sold its Fairey Hydraulics division to a management buy-out for £55m, thereby ending its links with the aerospace and defence industries and enabling it to focus on electronic controls and process technology. 27-Jan-1998 Life Assurance Holding is acquiring Aegon Financial Services from Scottish Equitable for a sum thought to be less than £30m. 27-Jan-1998 Tomkins has sold its Carriage House Fruit retail operation in California to New West Foods, and the price is expected to exceed the asset value of £8m. 26-Jan-1998 Hazlewood Foods has acquired Breadwinner, the London sandwich maker, for £14m. 24-Jan-1998 LucasVarity has sold two starter motor and alternator businesses, with plants in London, Argentina and South Africa, to Prestolite Electric of Michigan for an initial £25m. 24-Jan-1998 Cookson has acquired the jewellery components division of Inverness Corp of the US for an initial £24m in order to increase the value-added activities of its precious metals business. 24-Jan-1998 Card Clear, the card payment and fraud prevention company, is acquiring HTEC, the loyalty card company, for £24m in a reverse takeover. 24-Jan-1998 Daily Mail & General Trust is about to acquire Essex Radio, in which it already holds 27%, in a deal that values the local radio company at £21m. 22-Jan-1998 CRH of Ireland has spent a further £40m on the acquisition of a number of small North American and European building materials companies, including businesses involved in glass distribution, masonry, paving, concrete bricks and fencing. 21-Jan-1998 SmithKline Beecham has confirmed that it is in merger discussions with American Home Products to create the world's largest pharmaceuticals group with sales of about £16bn. 21-Jan-1998 Volvo is to acquire the BRS truck rental business from NFC for £49m, which will make Volvo Contract Services the largest such company in the UK managing over 20,000 trucks, buses and coaches. 20-Jan-1998 Sedgwick is selling two Dutch insurance subsidiaries - Praevenio and Schlencker - to Delta Lloyd, the Dutch company owned by Commercial Union, for £11.2m. 20-Jan-1998 Glynwed has sold three businesses serving the construction markets for a total £3.3m - Leavlite Electropaint, IsoSystems and PTFE Fabricators. 17-Jan-1998 Tate & Lyle has acquired a 61% stake in Industrias de Maiz, the Argentine corn sweetener and starch processing business, for £32m. 15-Jan-1998 Sage has sold its Dataform print management business to management for £7.2m. 15-Jan-1998 Hanson is negotiating the sale of its Spectrum heavy construction and civil engineering businesses in the US to Skanska of Sweden, and also plans to sell the Spectrum roadbuilding business to Bouygues of France. 14-Jan-1998 Sheffield Forgemasters, the engineering group, has been sold to two US companies - Allegheny Teledyne and Atchison Casting - for a combined price of almost £100m. 13-Jan-1998 Bridport is acquiring Air Carriers Interiors, the US maker of air cargo restraint systems, for an initial £2.1m. 13-Jan-1998 Limelight is selling its loss-making Portland Windows double glazing business to Broach for £0.5m. 13-Jan-1998 Barclays has sold part of its BZW Asian equities business to Credit Suisse First Boston for undisclosed terms, including the Taiwan equities operation and a 70% stake in a Singapore joint venture. 13-Jan-1998 Hunting Oilfield Services has acquired Chase Manufacturing, the Canadian maker of couplings for the oil industry, for £4.7m. 10-Jan-1998 Cobham has acquired Lincoln Laser, the US optical technology company, for $8.5m, and Nurad Technologies, the US microwave equipment maker, for $5.6m, as well as the passive microwave components business of Premier Microwave. 09-Jan-1998 GEC Alsthom is acquiring the railway signalling operations of Italian-owned Sasib for undisclosed terms. 09-Jan-1998 Cookson, the industrial materials company, is selling the UK horticultural products business of its Plantpak division to Synbra UK, the Dutch producer of plastics for the packaging and construction sectors. 08-Jan-1998 JLI Group, the food processing company, has received a £25m recommended takeover offer from Harrington Food, a new company created by a management team, which will take JLI private. 07-Jan-1998 Bass has announced the acquisition of four Australian hotels and the Browns chain of seven UK restaurants for a total £80m. 07-Jan-1998 General Accident is pulling out of Scandinavia with the sale of Activ Forsikring, its Norwegian operation, to Skandia Insurance for undisclosed terms. 07-Jan-1998 Reed Elsevier has sold IPC Magazines, the UK's largest publisher of consumer magazines, to a management team for £860m in order to focus on business and scientific publications. 06-Jan-1998 Unilever is acquiring the Vegetaline solid frying fat business from Eridania Beghin-Say, the Italian-French food company, and selling its Frial liquid seed-oil business in France to Lesieur Alimentaire, a subsidiary of Eridania Beghin-Say. 06-Jan-1998 McLeod Russel is acquiring Eurogard, the Dutch surface coatings business, from GE Plastics for £4.7m. 06-Jan-1998 GE Capital Investments is to acquire P&P UK, the desktop computer business, from Skillsgroup for £11.5m. 06-Jan-1998 Royal Bank of Scotland's venture capital arm has bought A&P Repair, the ship repair company, for £56m. 05-Jan-1998 ICI has completed the sale of its polymer and intermediates business in the UK and the US as well as its 70% stake in a PTA joint venture in Taiwan to DuPont for £1.4bn, as part of its strategy to exit the bulk chemicals market. 03-Jan-1998 Lynx has acquired Globelle, the computer networks supplier, for £3m, in order to improve relations with customers of its own Sphinx CST network business. 02-Jan-1998 Readicut International has sold European Carpets to Interface Group of the US for £30m. 02-Jan-1998 Treats Group is acquiring Richmond Ice Cream Company, the independent bulk ice cream manufacturer, in order to broaden their product range and make efficiencies in sales and marketing. 02-Jan-1998 Life Assurance Holding is acquiring Gan Life & Pensions, the UK arm of Societe Centrale du Gan of France, for £316m. 02-Jan-1998 Holliday Chemical is acquiring an Italian manufacturer of cephalosporins, aminoglycosides and other pharmaceutical intermediates from Hoechst Marion Roussel for £9m. 01-Jan-1998 Expamet International is acquiring the Hanover-based expanded metals business of Ernst Sorst for £2.1m, in order to gain a strategic foothold in continental Europe. 01-Jan-1998 The information on this page comes from the UK Activity Report. 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