Mergers & Acquisitions 1996 - Company News Summary

Littlewoods is acquiring UK Charity Lotteries for undisclosed terms, in a move which could create a serious competitor to Camelot in the scratch card market.
31-Dec-1996

GEI International has sold its Sanderson Kayser steel finishing operation to Timken of the US for £5m.
28-Dec-1996

Laporte has sold its European adhesives operation to Elf of France for about £100m.
27-Dec-1996

Bunzl is to sell its Italian and German fine papers businesses to KNP BT of the Netherlands for about £62m.
27-Dec-1996

Rank Organisation has acquired the Canadian outlets of Hard Rock Cafes for £36m.
27-Dec-1996

Eurovein is selling its Surface Treatment Division to US Filter for about £13m, and is changing its name from Eurovein to Tyzack Precision.
24-Dec-1996

AEA Technology is acquiring BR Research from the British Railways Board for £10.8m.
24-Dec-1996

Arrow of the US has acquired Premier Farnell's volume electronic components distribution business for £180m.
21-Dec-1996

Amec is acquiring a 48.6% stake in Spie Batignolles of France for up to £23m, in a deal which will create one the UK's biggest construction groups.
21-Dec-1996

Pressac Holdings is acquiring Italmec, the Italian automotive components maker, for £21m.
20-Dec-1996

London Electricity has agreed to a £1.3bn takeover bid by Entergy of the US, a deal intended to help Entergy develop into a global energy group.
19-Dec-1996

Conrad, the diversified leisure company, is acquiring Sheffield United Football Club for £10m.
19-Dec-1996

Ross Vegetable Products, the United Biscuits frozen vegetable products business, has undergone a £44m management buy-out.
18-Dec-1996

Misys is to acquire Summit Systems, the New York-based financial derivatives trading software company, for £37m.
18-Dec-1996

Higgs & Hill is selling its construction division to Hollandsche Beton Groep, the Dutch construction company, for £28.5m, and changing its name to Swan Hill.
18-Dec-1996

Lloyd Thompson and JIB Group have announced a £300m merger, to create an insurance broking group able to better compete in both the London and Asian markets.
17-Dec-1996

ASW has sold its metals recycling division to Philip Environmental of Canada for £33m, and is also planning to cut 200 jobs in the UK and France as part of a reorganisation.
17-Dec-1996

Wolseley, the builders merchant, is acquiring Bandt's Brown & Tawse business, for £15.6m.
16-Dec-1996

Kingspan, the building materials group, is to buy Ward Building Systems from Rugby for £26m.
16-Dec-1996

Burnfield is acquiring LDS, the vibration equipment company, for £24m.
14-Dec-1996

RPC, the plastic packaging concern, is acquiring CPE of Germany from Viag, for £62m, a deal which will more than double its sales.
14-Dec-1996

CalEnergy of the US has been given UK government approval to go-ahead with its £782m hostile takeover bid for Northern Electric.
14-Dec-1996

Racal Electronics has sold Racal-Decca Marine, the navigation systems business, to Litton Industries of the US for £29.5m.
13-Dec-1996

Vector Industries has acquired 15 engineering businesses from Caradon for about £200m, leaving Caradon free to focus on building products.
12-Dec-1996

Kingfisher, the retail group, has sold its 50% stake in the Staples office supplies superstores to Staples, its US partner, for £23.5m.
12-Dec-1996

BBA Group is acquiring International Airmotive, the US engine overhaul and aircraft servicing company, for £176m, in a move which will make aviation a core activity for the engineering group.
10-Dec-1996

Yule Catto is acquiring PFW Aroma Chemicals in the Netherlands from Hercules of the US for £21m.
10-Dec-1996

Pride Automotive Group, the US-registered car leasing company, is acquiring AC Cars, the sports car maker, from the reveivers for £5.5m.
09-Dec-1996

Logica, the computer services company, is acquiring Axime Ingenierie of France for £18m.
06-Dec-1996

James Fisher, the Barrow-based shipping concern, is acquiring P&O Tankships, the operator of 17 petroleum products tankers, for £39m.
05-Dec-1996

BSG International, the auto components concern, has acquired Premier Hazard, the maker of warning systems, for £6m.
03-Dec-1996

H Young, the automotive distributor, has acquired Madison, the distributor of bicycle parts, for £6.9m.
03-Dec-1996

Blue Circle Industries has bought Venesta Cubicle Systems, the manufacturer of washroom products, for £5.5m.
03-Dec-1996

Whitbread has acquired BrightReasons, the restaurant chain that owns Pizzaland, for £46m, and aims to expand the Bella Pasta chain by converting 35 of the acquired Pizzaland sites.
28-Nov-1996

Pearson has acquired Putnam Berkley, the US publisher of best-selling authors, for £200m.
27-Nov-1996

Babcock International is acquiring the Rosyth Royal Dockyard in Scotland for up to £25m, having secured orders from the Ministry of Defence worth about £1bn.
26-Nov-1996

Carlton Communications has acquired Action Time, the independent television production company, for up to £4.3m.
26-Nov-1996

IMI has acquired ISI Automation, the US fluid power business, for £89m, a move which will help it boost sales of existing products to US automotive manufacturers.
26-Nov-1996

Inn Business Group is acquiring Sycamore Taverns, the chain of 216 tenanted pubs, for about £30m.
26-Nov-1996

Carlton Communications has acquired Westcountry Television for £85m, having outbid United News & Media.
25-Nov-1996

Glaxo Wellcome is acquiring full control of Nippon Glaxo, its joint venture with Shin Nihon Jitsugyo, for £360m.
22-Nov-1996

Allied Colloids has acquired CPS, the US producer of water-soluble polymers, for £230m.
20-Nov-1996

Vodafone has acquired Peoples Phone, the distributor of telephone handsets, for £77m, in order to reduce its dependence on independent retailers.
20-Nov-1996

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has acquired London's Hyde Park Hotel from Granada Group for £86m.
20-Nov-1996

Azlan, the computer products distributor, has acquired Akam International Holding, the Dutch computer training concern, for £30m, in order to speed up its expansion into Europe.
20-Nov-1996

Hickson International has sold its Hickson Manro business to Broomco, a new company that includes some managers from Manro, for £26.5m, as part of its debt reduction programme.
19-Nov-1996

Tarmac and ARC are merging their Midlands quarrying operations into a joint venture called Midland Quarry Products, a move which will result in the mothballing of ARC's Nuneaton and Whitwick quarries.
19-Nov-1996

Great Universal Stores has acquired Experian, the US credit rating and information agency, in a £1.04bn deal.
15-Nov-1996

Cedardata, the commercial software supplier, has acquired Teleconnect Systems, the supplier of call centre management systems, for £4m.
15-Nov-1996

Dominion Resources has announced a £1.3bn agreed takeover bid for East Midlands Electricity, although it is not clear whether the deal will be referred to the Monopolies & Mergers Commission.
14-Nov-1996

Morgan Crucible has acquired EM Corporation, the lubricants supplier, from Great Lakes Chemical Corp for £16m.
14-Nov-1996

Misys has acquired Frustum, the US designer of software that enables banks to monitor activities such as foreign exchange trading, for £37m.
13-Nov-1996

Comet, the electrical retailer, is acquiring Norweb's electricity showrooms for £29m, and is expected to withdraw from about 57 high-street shops in order to avoid conflict with its existing stores.
13-Nov-1996

Clubhaus is acquiring Golf Fund, the owner of golf courses at Lichfield and Leek Wootton, for £12.6m.
13-Nov-1996

Southern Newspapers has bought the South Wales Argus from United News & Media for £31m, a deal which includes 15 titles.
12-Nov-1996

Capital Radio has launched an agreed £57m bid for My Kinda Town, the themed restaurants chain, a move seen as an extension to its Radio Cafe idea.
12-Nov-1996

NatWest Ventures is leading a syndicate of venture capitalists that is buying the Pubmaster chain of 1,680 pubs from Brent Walker for £171m.
08-Nov-1996

Mayflower, the UK automotive engineering concern, is acquiring SCSM, the US automotive body-pressings company, for £101m.
08-Nov-1996

Bodycote International has acquired Bruken, the Swedish heat treatment group, for £57m.
08-Nov-1996

British Airways has won approval to acquire a 67% stake in Air Liberte, the independent French carrier, for £53m.
06-Nov-1996

Bullough has sold Reznor, its industrial heating business, to Thomas & Betts of the US for about £9.7m.
05-Nov-1996

Rank Organisation is to sell its Shearings coach holiday business to a management buy-out, for a price expected to be around £80m.
05-Nov-1996

Ellis & Everard has acquired Chemitrade, the Manchester-based distributor of solvents, for £7.4m.
05-Nov-1996

Dixons, the electrical retailer, has bought DN Computer Services, the mail order computer company, for £9.7m.
05-Nov-1996

British Telecom has announced a £12bn merger with MCI, the US long-distance carrier, in which it is acquiring the remaining 80% stake it does not already own, thus creating a new entity called Concert which will be the world's fourth-largest telecoms company.
04-Nov-1996

Bernard Matthews is acquiring Bernhard Bartsch, the German maker of cooked pork and turkey products, for £5m.
04-Nov-1996

Lawter International of the US is acquiring the resin division of Wolstenholme International for £5.5m.
04-Nov-1996

Molins is acquiring a cartoning and case packing machinery group comprising HJ Langen of Canada and Langenpac of the Netherlands, for about £23m.
04-Nov-1996

Ugland International Holdings, the shipping group, is to acquire the Ugland family's 50% stake in Hoegh-Ugland Auto Lines, the vehicle carrier business, for an initial £99m.
02-Nov-1996

Eurotherm is acquiring Viatran, the US maker of electromechanical pressure transducers, for £6.9m.
01-Nov-1996

Stakis has acquired Metropole Hotels from Lonrho for £327m, adding 2,266 rooms to its existing 5,500.
01-Nov-1996

Emap has bought The Box, a cable TV music channel, from Video Jukebox Network and Ticketmaster of the US for £7.8m.
31-Oct-1996

Hewden Stuart, the construction equipment company, is acquiring Agent Plant from Kvaerner Construction for £9.4m.
29-Oct-1996

NatWest Securities Japan is to acquire Citicorp International Securities' Japanese trading operations, for undisclosed terms.
26-Oct-1996

Pet City Holdings of the UK is to undergo a £140m merger with PetsMart of the US, as the first step in the US pet product retailer's European expansion plans.
26-Oct-1996

Smiths Industries has acquired Leland Electronics, the US maker of electrical power generators, for £19m.
24-Oct-1996

Low & Bonar has acquired two Belgian makers of polypropylene yarns and fabrics - UCO Technical Fabrics and UCO Ostend Netting - for £9m.
23-Oct-1996

S Daniels is acquiring Brash Brothers, the tea and coffee processor, for £1.85m.
23-Oct-1996

Hall Engineering is buying Cardiff Wire from ASW Holdings for up to £5.9m.
23-Oct-1996

Conrad, the leisure group, is to acquire Sheffield United Football Club for £10m.
22-Oct-1996

The Birthdays chain of 330 greetings cards shops has been sold to a consortium of investors for £90m.
22-Oct-1996

Burton, the clothing retailer, has acquired Racing Group, the mail-order concern, for £19m.
22-Oct-1996

The Private Bank & Trust Company of London is acquiring Reads Trust Company, the Jersey-based trust business, for undisclosed terms.
22-Oct-1996

Corporate Services has acquired GWL Holdings, the medical staff agency which trades under the names Medacs and The Recruitment Group, for £12m.
22-Oct-1996

Abbot Group, the oil services company, is acquiring Nabors Europe for £25m in order to expand its development drilling operations.
19-Oct-1996

Cookson is acquiring GRP, the US maker of fused cast refractory materials, for undisclosed terms.
19-Oct-1996

MY Holdings has acquired TWG, the Merseyside packaging concern that makes self-adhesive labels, for £6m.
18-Oct-1996

Smith & Nephew, the healthcare concern, has acquired Yunhab Meditech and ChangMyung, its two South Korean distributors, for £4m.
18-Oct-1996

Inchcape is selling its Bain Hogg insurance broking business to Aon Corp of the US for £160m, having dropped plans to demerge it.
16-Oct-1996

Eliza Tinsley is acquiring Evenwood Engineering and GR Smithson to expand its services to farming and building suppliers, for a combined total of over £5m.
16-Oct-1996

Vacu-Blast Group, the air-blasting and composites machinery concern, has been bought by a management team from BTR for £6m.
15-Oct-1996

NatWest Markets has acquired Hambro Magan, the merchant banking operation, for undisclosed terms.
11-Oct-1996

Albert Fisher, the fresh foods group, is selling its North American distribution business to a management buy-out for £73m.
11-Oct-1996

Case of the US has acquired Fermec, the Manchester-based maker of construction equipment, for undisclosed terms.
10-Oct-1996

Quintiles of the US is to acquire Innovex, the UK pharmaceutical industry consultancy, for £500m.
08-Oct-1996

US Filter has acquired the process equipment division of United Utilities for £125m.
08-Oct-1996

TI Group is planning to acquire Forsheda, the Swedish maker of pipe sealing systems, for £189m, a move which will double the size of TI's polymer engineering business.
08-Oct-1996

Motherwell Bridge's Portman Travel business travel subsidiary has been bought by management for £21m.
04-Oct-1996

Cox Insurance, the Lloyd's insurance company, is to acquire the Christopherson Heath agency for up to £34m.
04-Oct-1996

Camas is acquiring Model Stone, the Minnesota-based ready-mix concrete business, for £19m.
03-Oct-1996

Schroder Ventures has acquired Precision Industries, the maker of measuring equipment, from Rank Organisation for £72m.
01-Oct-1996

Bodycote International has acquired Taussig Associates of Chicago, the operator of metallurgical testing laboratories, for up to $6.1m.
01-Oct-1996

Thermal Engineering International has bought Senior Engineering's thermal engineering business for £28m.
01-Oct-1996

National Publishing, a consortium supported by the Electra Fleming venture capital group, has acquired Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) for £54m, and will rename it Stationery Office.
01-Oct-1996

Clyde Blowers has acquired two soot-blowing equipment companies from Deutsche Babcock Group for £17m - Bergemann Germany and Bergemann USA.
27-Sep-1996

Circle Communications, the television rights company, is buying Oxford Scientific Films, the maker of wildlife programmes, for £3.8m.
27-Sep-1996

Middlesex Holdings is acquiring Wolff Steel, the international steel trading concern, for £3.8m.
26-Sep-1996

Grand Metropolitan has sold its Pearle Vision chain of optician shops in North America and Europe to Cole National of the US for £140m.
26-Sep-1996

Rank is acquiring the Tom Cobleigh pub group for £96m, and aims to integrate the brand into its other leisure outlets.
25-Sep-1996

Daily Mail & General Trust is acquiring Broadcast Media, the Australian regional radio operator, for £23m.
25-Sep-1996

Premier Oil is to acquire Discovery Petroleum of Australia for £46m, a move which will increase its presence in south-east Asia as well as marking a first step into Australia.
24-Sep-1996

Boots is acquiring Laboratoires Lutsia, the French skincare concern, for £115m, as part of its strategy to develop its over-the-counter healthcare activities.
21-Sep-1996

Premier Oil has acquired Sumatra Gulf Oil, the Indonesian oil and gas concern, from Chevron for $72m.
21-Sep-1996

Bryant is acquiring Admiral Homes, the south-east based housebuilder, for £62m as part of a strategy to increase output to 4,000 homes a year.
19-Sep-1996

Macfarlane Group has acquired Alport Holdings, the maker of polythene film, for £9m.
17-Sep-1996

Adwest has sold three power systems companies for £8m - Abbott Electronics was sold to XCEL Corp of the US, Air-Log went to EIS, and Ross Courtenay Cirencester went to a management buy-out.
17-Sep-1996

FKI has acquired the Hawker Siddeley electric power group from BTR for £182m, and has said it will stop making locomotives at Hawker Siddley's Brush subsidiary in order to focus on products for power generation.
13-Sep-1996

P&O of the UK and Royal Nedlloyd of the Netherlands are to merge their container activities to create a new company with 8,000 staff and 112 container ships.
10-Sep-1996

BTR has sold its controlling stakes in three Taiwanese plastics joint ventures to a consortium comprising Union Petrochemical and USI Far East Corporation, for £191m.
10-Sep-1996

Zellweger Luwa of Switzerland has acquired Neotronics Technology, the analytical instruments concern, for £23m.
07-Sep-1996

Takare is to merge with Court Cavendish to create the TC Group, which will be the biggest company in the care homes sector with a market value of £254m.
07-Sep-1996

Powell Duffryn has sold its UK and South African storage terminals to Koninklijke Van Ommeren of Rotterdam for £16m.
06-Sep-1996

Thomas Cook has acquired Time Off, the city breaks tour operator, for undisclosed terms.
05-Sep-1996

Royal Bank Development Capital has bought P&O Oilfield Services, the supplier of drilling equipment in the North Sea, from Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation for £37m.
04-Sep-1996

Stagecoach Holdings has bought Swebus, the Swedish bus operator, for £116m.
04-Sep-1996

Finelist Group has bought South London Pistons, the engine parts distributor, for £1.9m.
04-Sep-1996

Cirqual is buying Wollaston, the specialist engineer, for up to £11m.
04-Sep-1996

Scottish Radio is to acquire Downtown Radio of Northern Ireland for up to £10m.
03-Sep-1996

Brake Bros is to acquire DRV, the French supplier of chilled and frozen foods, for undisclosed terms.
31-Aug-1996

Unigate has sold its remaining US restaurant businesses to CKE Restaurants for $42m.
29-Aug-1996

Cruden Bay is acquiring Kenton Utilities & Developments for £21m, and will follow it up with further acquisitions as it converts from an investment trust into an engineering services company.
29-Aug-1996

Swiss Reinsurance has acquired Mercantile & General, the reinsurance division of Prudential, for £1.75bn, making it the largest life reinsurer in the world.
28-Aug-1996

4Front has bought Hammer Distribution, the Basingstoke-based distributor of Micropolis and Sony storage products, for £1.8m.
28-Aug-1996

Regent Inns has acquired Crossgate Holdings, the owner of the Muswells chain of bars in the south and snooker and pool bars in the north, for £6.3m.
28-Aug-1996

Compass, the food services concern, is buying the food operations of Service America for £77m, making it the second largest contract caterer in the US.
27-Aug-1996

Bass is acquiring Allied Domecq's 50% stake in Carlsberg-Tetley for £200m, and Carlsberg is putting its 50% stake, as well as £20m, into Bass Brewers in exchange for a 20% stake in the enlarged subsidiary.
26-Aug-1996

Compass, the catering group, is acquiring Service America's dining and vending food service division for $119m.
26-Aug-1996

GWR Group is acquiring the remaining 83% of Classic FM, the national classical radio station, for £71m.
24-Aug-1996

HSBC Gibbs Holdings has sold its Premium Credit operation to a management buy-out called Vendcrown, for £40m plus equity.
24-Aug-1996

HSBC's Marine Midland subsidiary in New York is acquiring First Federal Savings & Loan for £397m.
23-Aug-1996

Card Clear, the credit card fraud prevention company, is acquiring its rival Cardcast for £15.4m so that they can focus on developing the market together.
23-Aug-1996

Plascon of South Africa is acquiring Courtaulds' Taubmans architectural coatings operation in Australia for £17m.
21-Aug-1996

Hearst Corporation of the US has acquired Multilex, the supplier of medical information to the UK healthcare sector, for undisclosed terms.
20-Aug-1996

David S Smith has bought John Dickinson, the envelope maker, from Biber Holdings for £18m.
20-Aug-1996

Costain has sold its Land & Marine pipeline operation to Smit International of the Netherlands for £11m.
17-Aug-1996

Fairey Group is acquiring Fusion UV Systems, the US ultraviolet curing systems company, for £81m.
16-Aug-1996

Sanderson Electronics is buying Alpha Microsystems (Great Britain) from its US parent for £1.4m.
14-Aug-1996

Hodgson Chemicals, the BTP subsidiary, has acquired ICI Surfactants' US-based textile operation for $2.3m.
14-Aug-1996

Financial Objects has acquired Ibis, the Italian banking software concern, for £4m.
14-Aug-1996

Abbey National has acquired Elton Holdings, the contract car leasing concern, for £9.9m.
14-Aug-1996

Rathbone Brothers is acquiring Neilson Cobbold, the Liverpool-based stockbroker, for up to £15.9m.
14-Aug-1996

United Friendly and Refuge Group have announced a £1.46bn merger, creating a major home services insurer with combined assets of £6.5bn.
09-Aug-1996

Reed Elsevier is acquiring Tolley, the tax and legal publisher, for £100m, and is now planning a £2bn acquisition drive concentrated in electronic publishing.
09-Aug-1996

Cowie is acquiring Lathom Van Hire, the vehicle rental concern, for £4.5m.
09-Aug-1996

McKechnie has bought Dzus International, the fastener maker, for £15m.
09-Aug-1996

Thomson Travel Group has acquired Budget Travel, the Irish tour operator, from Granada in a deal thought to be worth up to £19m.
08-Aug-1996

First National Building Society of Ireland has bought The Mortgage Corporation, the UK mortgage lending business, from Salomon Brothers for £53m.
08-Aug-1996

Newsquest Media Group is buying Westminster Press, the regional newspaper business, from Pearson for £305m.
06-Aug-1996

TI Group is buying Alcan Aluminio do Brasil, the refrigeration components company, for £15.5m, in a move which will enable it to use Alcan's advanced evaporator systems.
05-Aug-1996

Stylo has bought the retail and wholesale operations of the Hush Puppies shoe business from Sears for £23m.
03-Aug-1996

European Colour is to buy Tor, the specialist coatings maker, for £13m.
01-Aug-1996

NM Rothschild & Sons has bought Causeway Invoice Discounting for about £5m, in order to improve its banking services.
01-Aug-1996

Brunswick Developments Group has bought the Brighton Marina company from Brent Walker for £9m.
01-Aug-1996

Cowie has bought Drymona, the North East Bus holding company, for £24.5m, making it the second biggest bus operator in the UK.
01-Aug-1996

Whitbread is buying Pelican, the chain of Cafe Rouge and Dome restaurants, for £133m.
31-Jul-1996

Midland Independent Newspapers has bought Newsquest (Midlands North), the publisher of free newspapers and magazines, for £12m.
30-Jul-1996

Inspec is acquiring Shell's Fine Chemicals business for £200m, with the help of a £101m rights issue.
27-Jul-1996

Denham Holdings is buying Carter Penguin, the confectionery business, from Armour Trust for about £4.3m.
27-Jul-1996

Jessop Group, the chain of 70 photographic shops, has undergone a management buy-out backed by NatWest Ventures.
26-Jul-1996

Ascot Holdings, the pubs and hotels group, has agreed to buy Suter, the industrial conglomerate, for £276m, and will later to decide which of Suter's businesses to keep.
26-Jul-1996

Scottish Television is buying Caledonian Publishing, the Scottish newspaper group, for £120m.
26-Jul-1996

Relayfast has bought Western Track Renewals, the British Railways infrastructure concern, for undisclosed terms.
25-Jul-1996

TT Group has bought Lewis & Towers, the Kent-based glass bottle maker, for £3.8m.
24-Jul-1996

Carlton Communications has bought Cinema Media, which controls about 80% of UK cinema advertising, for £58m.
23-Jul-1996

Reckitt & Colman has sold its 80% stake in Globo SA Tintas e Pigmentos, the Brazilian paints and coatings concern, to Bayer for £48m.
23-Jul-1996

T&N has sold AE Turbine Components, the aerospace business, to Precision Castings of Oregon for £41m.
23-Jul-1996

Haden MacLellan has sold Duport Harper Foundries to a management team for £10.4m.
23-Jul-1996

Goldman Sachs of the US is to acquire CINMan, the UK coal industry pension fund manager, in a deal thought to be worth up to £50m.
22-Jul-1996

Heywood Williams is acquiring Mila Beslag, the Danish distributor of components to UK makers of windows and doors, for £34m.
20-Jul-1996

TBI, the property group, is acquiring Belfast International airport for £100m.
19-Jul-1996

Sema Group is buying Syntax Processing, Olivetti's facilities management business, for about £64m.
18-Jul-1996

Siebe has acquired Controlli, the Italian maker of valves and controls, for £9.4m.
17-Jul-1996

T&N is acquiring the US piston rings business of Cummins for undisclosed terms.
16-Jul-1996

BTR has acquired Vogt Valves of Kentucky, the maker of low-pressure valves for process industries, for £20m from Henry Vogt Machine Company.
16-Jul-1996

Mercury Communications has sold Mercury Paging to a US management team for £60m, in order to focus on long-distance telephony and specific business sectors.
16-Jul-1996

Continental Foods, the snacks and drinks business, is undergoing a £16m management buy-out.
13-Jul-1996

British Borneo Petroleum Syndicate has acquired Unocal North Sea Exploration from Unocal International for £15m.
12-Jul-1996

Laporte has disposed of more non-core businesses for a total £23m, including the process chemicals business Gramos, the cleanroon garments operation Countdown Clean Systems, the US pet litter business Waverly Minerals, and its 50% stake in Laporte (Malaysia).
11-Jul-1996

Standard Motor Products of the US has bought Intermotor, the auto electrical components maker, for over £20m.
11-Jul-1996

The Prudential has sold Leven, its Dutch life assurance operation, to Achmea Group for undisclosed terms.
11-Jul-1996

Vodafone is to acquire the remaining two-thirds of Talkland, the service provider, from Compagnie Generale des Eaux of France for £30m.
10-Jul-1996

Guardian Royal Exchange has bought Legal & General's commercial general insurance business for £48m, and hopes to achieve cost savings by merging the business with existing operations.
10-Jul-1996

Unigate is buying Kraft Foods International's UK and Italian margarine business for £77m.
09-Jul-1996

Cantors, the furniture retailer, is to undergo a reverse takeover with Harveys Holdings, the textiles and furniture concern, creating a group with sales of £140m and almost 300 stores.
06-Jul-1996

Whessoe is buying AG Marvac, the supplier of vapour control products to the petrochemical industry, for £2.7m.
06-Jul-1996

Lafarge of France is to buy Ennemix, the quarry company, following a £8.8m recommended bid.
05-Jul-1996

CRH of Dublin has bought Allied Building Products, the US roofing and cladding supplier, for $121m.
05-Jul-1996

Flare Group is to buy Gibbons Refractories, the maker of bricks for kilns, for £4.5m.
05-Jul-1996

Reed Elsevier is linking up with Times Mirror, the US media group, to jointly acquire Shephard's, the legal publisher, for $250m.
04-Jul-1996

MY Holdings has bought Clarke Packaging, the maker of thermoformed containers for food, for £2m.
04-Jul-1996

Meconic is buying Phoenix Chemicals, the contract manufacturer, for up to £12m.
03-Jul-1996

Thomas Cook has acquired Sunworld, the tour operator, from GVI of Spain for a sum thought to be around £38m.
03-Jul-1996

Caspian, the media concern, is acquiring Leeds United Football Club for about £30m.
03-Jul-1996

Pillsbury, the Grand Metropolitan subsidiary, is buying Frescarini, the Brazilian maker of dough and fresh pasta, for undisclosed terms.
03-Jul-1996

Compass is acquiring Professional Food-Service Management, the Florida-based college caterer, for up to $26m.
03-Jul-1996

Cookson Group has bought Camelot Systems, the US electronic components maker, for up to $100m.
03-Jul-1996

Dixon Motors of Hull is acquiring Gordon Plunkett Group, the vehicle parts distributor, for £6m.
03-Jul-1996

ADT, the second hand car and burglar alarm group, is to be acquired by Republic Industries of the US for $5bn.
02-Jul-1996

Brammer has acquired Hamilton Rentals Nederland, the computer hire concern, for up to £6.8m.
02-Jul-1996

Schroder Ventures is acquiring Lister-Petter, the diesel engine subsidiary of BTR, for £80m.
02-Jul-1996

Philips Telecom-PMR, the mobile radio business, has been bought from Philips Electronics by management for £60m.
02-Jul-1996

Dalgety Produce, the potato business, has been bought from Dalgety by management for £14.3m.
02-Jul-1996

Ideal Hardware has bought Kinexus, the TV, film, and multimedia production concern, for £300k in shares.
28-Jun-1996

Boxmore International is acquiring the printing and packaging business of Glaxo Wellcome for £6.3m.
26-Jun-1996

Unigate is buying H Hargrave, the Lincolnshire-based pork processor, for £18m.
25-Jun-1996

Cinven, the venture capital concern, has acquired Routledge, the academic publisher, from Thomson Corporation for £28m.
24-Jun-1996

Priory Hospitals, the acute psychiatric company, has been bought from Community Psychiatric Centers of America by a management buy-out for £88m.
24-Jun-1996

UPF has bought Pioneer, the car exhaust systems maker, for £7.5m.
22-Jun-1996

Formal Group is acquiring Blakes Menswear, which operates mainly in the south east, for up to £4.5m.
22-Jun-1996

Seagate of the US has bought Holistic Systems, the London-based software developer, for £55m.
22-Jun-1996

TransTec is buying BSK, the Midlands-based machinist, for £42m.
21-Jun-1996

ADT of Bermuda is to acquire Automated Security (Holdings), the electronic security concern, for $250m.
20-Jun-1996

McDonnell Information Systems, the computer services concern, is to sell its New Zealand and Australian operations to Continuum Australia for £7m.
20-Jun-1996

International Energy Group of the Channel Islands is to buy Douglas Gas, the Isle of Man-based LPG importer, for £15m.
20-Jun-1996

Cowie Group has acquired British Bus Group, the third largest bus company behind Stagecoach and FirstBus, for at least £282m.
19-Jun-1996

Greene King has acquired the Magic Pub chain of 277 managed pubs for £197m.
19-Jun-1996

Intek Diversified Corp of the US is acquiring Securicor's Radiocoms division, which includes narrowband wireless technology and manufacturing operations, in return for 25m Intek shares.
19-Jun-1996

Renold has acquired Holset Engineering, the coupling maker, from Cummins UK for £3.5m.
19-Jun-1996

Williams Holdings' electronics division, SAIA Burgess Electronics, is being sold to a management buy-out for £71m.
18-Jun-1996

Finelist, the auto parts distributor, has bought Teviot Motor Factors (Hawick) for £2.6m.
18-Jun-1996

Marriott International of the US has bought Russell & Brand, the UK contract caterer, for a price thought to be around £15m.
18-Jun-1996

Harmony Healthcare has acquired the Serene Care Group for £9.5m, thus increasing Harmony's nursing homes from 5 to 12.
17-Jun-1996

Vardon has bought Dynamic Leisure, the health club operator that uses the Archer brand name, for £40m.
15-Jun-1996

Moss Bros has bought Blazer, the chain of 28 casual wear shops, from Storehouse for £7.1m.
14-Jun-1996

Wellman is selling its specialist engineering business to a management buy-in, set up by Candover Partners, for £17.4m.
14-Jun-1996

WH Smith has sold Paperchase, the chain of 12 stationery stores, to management for £1m.
14-Jun-1996

Celltech is selling Celltech Biologicals to Alusuisse-Lonza of Switzerland for £50m.
13-Jun-1996

Standard Platforms Holdings, the computer supplier, is planning a reverse takeover of DSI Data Systems International, which trades as Action Computer Supplies.
13-Jun-1996

Doeflex is acquiring BTP's industrial polymers operation for about £6m.
12-Jun-1996

Partco, the motor parts distributor, is acquiring Serck Marston, which is 70% owned by BTR, for £56m.
12-Jun-1996

Datrontech is buying Connectivity Group, the communications products specialist, for up to £6.4m.
12-Jun-1996

National Westminster Bank is to acquire Greenwich Captital Markets, the US broker based in Connecticut, from Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan for $600m.
11-Jun-1996

Boots is to acquire WH Smith's share in their joint Do It All chain of DIY stores.
10-Jun-1996

Allders, the retailer, has agreed to sell its duty-free business to Swissair for £160m, thus ending the attempt by BAA to buy the business.
08-Jun-1996

Rank Organisation is acquiring full control of the Hard Rock Cafes for $410m, thus gaining a further 13 outlets and 4 franchises.
08-Jun-1996

Medeva is buying some former Fisons businesses from Rhone-Poulenc Rorer for £263m, including Rochester, which is made up of Fison's former US headquarters and ten branded drugs.
07-Jun-1996

Mister Minit of Switzerland is buying 39 Salisburys luggage stores from the Facia Group, which is now in receivership.
07-Jun-1996

Cadbury Schweppes has sold its 51% stake in Coca-Cola & Schweppes Beverages, its soft drinks production joint venture, to Coca-Cola Enterprises for about £700m.
05-Jun-1996

Wyko is acquiring Swan Bearing Factors, the distributor of power transmission components, for up to £4.2m.
04-Jun-1996

Adwest is buying Rearsby, the automotive component maker, for £29m, thus creating a leading player in the manufacture of control cables, clutches and gear parts.
04-Jun-1996

Johnston Press is to buy Emap's regional newspaper business for about £205m, which will give it over 6% of the regional newspaper market.
04-Jun-1996

Unigate is selling its Black-eye Pea restaurant business in the US to DenAmerica for $65m.
04-Jun-1996

Lloyds TSB is to sell Hill Samuel Bank's corporate finance department to Close Brothers for undisclosed terms, with the remainder of the subsidiary being integrated into Lloyds TSB.
01-Jun-1996

W Canning, the speciality chemicals concern, has bought Amco Sari, a company that sells combustion improvement additives in France, for £2.1m.
01-Jun-1996

Clondalkin of Dublin is acquiring Van der Windt, the Dutch packaging concern, from NV Koninklijke for £40m, in order to improve its position in the European flexible packaging market.
01-Jun-1996

Central Transport Rental is to sell its rail wagon leasing operation to management for £27m.
31-May-1996

Kewill Systems has bought Scott-Anglia Holdings and its Meadowhouse Bar-Laser subsidiary, which provides EDI systems to retailers, for £3.3m.
31-May-1996

Kalamazoo Computer Group has conditionally agreed to buy the European automotive dealer systems operations of Datapoint Corp of the US for $33m.
30-May-1996

Euclidian, the Lloyd's investment company, is to buy Indemnity Insurance Services for an initial £1.8m.
29-May-1996

Ellis & Everard is acquiring Giltrain Plastics, the Yorkshire-based supplier of polymers, for £4.15m.
24-May-1996

Go-Ahead Group is buying London General, the bus operator, for £46m.
24-May-1996

API is buying Learoyd Group, the specialist film and packaging producer, for up to £22m.
24-May-1996

Carnell has acquired Columbus, the travel publisher, for £14m and also plans to buy Bleeding Edge Publications, the video magazine publisher.
24-May-1996

Jarvis is buying Northern Infrastructure Maintenance Company from the British Railways Board, for £9m.
23-May-1996

Enterprise Inns is buying John Labatt (UK), the pubs business of Belgium's Interbrew, for £51m - a move which will double its size to over 1,000 pubs.
22-May-1996

Hillsdown Holdings is buying Continental Bakeries, the European biscuit maker, from Allied Domecq for £49m.
22-May-1996

Western Star Trucks Holdings of Canada is to acquire ERF Holdings, the last UK-owned heavy trucks maker, for £27.4m.
21-May-1996

Centeon, the US-based joint venture between Hoechst and Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, is to buy Delta Biotechnology, the Nottingham-based maker of human proteins, from BOC for £30m.
21-May-1996

Kingston Communications has bought out Yorkshire Electricity's 50% stake in their Torch Telecom joint venture for £24m.
17-May-1996

Clyde Petroleum is to buy Crusader, the Australian exploration concern, for £91m.
17-May-1996

Williams Holdings has bought the Sicli Group, the French fire protection and rescue vehicle concern, for £175m.
16-May-1996

British Aerospace Australia is to buy the armoured vehicle operation of Shorts for undisclosed terms.
16-May-1996

British Aerospace is forming a joint venture with Lagardere Group of France called Matra BAe Dynamics, which will be the biggest missile maker in Europe.
14-May-1996

Stakis is acquiring LivingWell Health and Leisure, the chain of five health clubs, for £19.8m.
14-May-1996

Beazer Homes has bought Charles Church, the housebuilder, from the Royal Bank of Scotland for £36m.
14-May-1996

Warburtons, the bakery group, is selling its retail and pie manufacturing businesses to Lyndale Foods, a management buy-in, for undisclosed terms.
14-May-1996

Hall Engineering is selling its metal stockholding operation to Hallco 68, a newly-formed company, for £21m.
11-May-1996

FirstBus is acquiring Strathclyde Buses for £110m, making it the UK's largest bus company.
10-May-1996

Guardian Royal Exchange has set up a new company, Spring Inns, to buy about 1,400 pubs from Inntrepreneur Pub Company for £262m.
10-May-1996

Compass Group is buying Roberts Catering and Payne & Gunter, the sports catering businesses, for £6.5m.
10-May-1996

Norcros has bought four adhesives businesses from BTR for £27m - Dunlop Adhesives, and the remaining stakes in Building Adhesives, TAL, and Australian Building Adhesives.
09-May-1996

BASF is buying Zeneca's textile colours operation for up to £150m, which includes sites in Ellesmere Port, Brazil and North Carolina.
09-May-1996

Stanley Leisure is acquiring Gus Carter, the Sunderland-based chain of bookmakers, for £14.7m.
09-May-1996

Midlands Electricity has agreed to a £1.73bn takeover bid from Avon Energy, a company set up by General Public Utilities of New Jersey and Cinergy of Cincinnati.
08-May-1996

Rubicon Group's aluminium alloys operation has been bought by management for £7.4m.
08-May-1996

Dragon Oil of Dublin is planning a reverse takeover of Larmag Energy Assets, funded by a £50m placement.
08-May-1996

CRH has expanded its US building materials business with a number of acquisitions - Ritangela of NY state, Brooks Products, and Foster and Southeastern of Massachusetts.
08-May-1996

Sun Alliance and Royal Insurance are planning a £6bn merger to form Royal & Sun Alliance, a deal which could result in 5,000 job losses.
04-May-1996

Liberty Publishing, the media subsidiary of Harrods, has bought Viva Radio, the radio station for women, for £3m.
04-May-1996

Geest has sold its Necta prepared pineapple operation, which has a factory in Costa Rica, to Pacific Asia Technologies, for up to $6.7m.
04-May-1996

Omnipack has acquired four companies from Wassall for £11.5m - MCG Rosslite, MCG Graphics, MCG Containers & Closures and Gilchrist Brothers.
04-May-1996

National Home Loans has bought RCR Contract Hire & Leasing, the vehicle contract hire business based in Coventry, for £7.5m.
04-May-1996

Abbey National is acquiring Wagon Finance, the used car financing business, from United News & Media for £121m.
04-May-1996

CL Marsden Wafers of Wigan has been bought by a management buy-in team and will be renamed Rivington Foods.
04-May-1996

Hanson has sold its Seven Seas vitamin supplements business to Merck of Germany for £150m.
03-May-1996

Cornhill Insurance has acquired Pet Plan, the animal health insurer, for £32.5m.
02-May-1996

Bupa has bought back 30 nursing homes from Greenalls, the pub company, for £68m.
02-May-1996

General Accident is buying two German companies for £61m from UAP of France - UAP Allgemeine, a general insurer, and UAP International Leben, a life insurer.
01-May-1996

Guardian Royal Exchange is buying the RAC's insurance broking business for £68m, and the business will become part of Guardian Direct but will continue to use the RAC name.
01-May-1996

PressTech Controls, the maker of control equipment for the printing sector, has been sold to management by Harnischfeger Industries of the US for £9m.
01-May-1996

Walkers Snack Foods has sold Planters Nuts to a management buy-in team, as Walkers wants to concentrate on core brands.
30-Apr-1996

Virgin Group has bought 90% of Euro Belgian Airlines for £38m and will use the acquisition to help it reduce the cost of air travel in Europe.
30-Apr-1996

Marley has sold its 50% stake in Davidson Marley, the Dutch maker of automotive instrument panels, to Davidsons Overseas Investment for £28m.
30-Apr-1996

Siebe is acquiring ERO Electronic, the Milan-based controls maker, for £18.5m.
30-Apr-1996

Ibstock has bought Redland's UK bricks business for £160m, giving it 35% of the market.
26-Apr-1996

The Co-operative Bank is pulling out of fund management with the sale of CIM to Colonial Group of Australia for undisclosed terms.
26-Apr-1996

BPB Industries, the plasterboard maker, is buying the remaining 80% of Borgardts, the German maker of gypsum plasters, for £21m.
26-Apr-1996

Halifax Building Society is buying 33 estate agency offices from the Alliance & Leicester for undisclosed terms.
26-Apr-1996

Marshalls has sold Marshalls Hard Metals, Halco Drilling, Marshalls Drilling and Halifax Tool Company to a management buy-in for £16m.
25-Apr-1996

ARC, the Hanson subsidiary, has bought Boral Edenhall, the Cumbrian-based concrete blocks company, from Boral of Australia for £24m.
25-Apr-1996

BTR has sold Plascoat International and Plascoat Coatings, its plastics processing operations, to a management buy-out for £30m.
25-Apr-1996

Adare Printing of Ireland has bought Prontaprint, the chain of 250 design and print centre franchises, for £23m.
24-Apr-1996

TIP Europe, the GE Capital Services division, has bought Smith Self Drive, the truck rental company, for £45m.
24-Apr-1996

Metal Bulletin has acquired a 49% stake in Sea.Net, the provider of shipping information on the internet, for £1.2m.
24-Apr-1996

Smiths Industries is acquiring Air Movement, the ventilation equipment concern, for £47m, and Adaptaflex, the conduits maker, for £21m.
23-Apr-1996

Sears has sold Hoogenbosch Beheer, the Dutch shoe retailer with 308 outlets, to a management buy-out for £47m.
23-Apr-1996

Amec has acquired South West Infrastructure Maintenance Company, the ex-British Rail track maintenance company which operates between London, Exeter and Hastings, for £11m.
22-Apr-1996

WH Smith has sold its Niceday stationery supply business to Guilbert of France for £142m.
19-Apr-1996

Securitised Endowment Contracts, the financial services company, is buying two independent financial advisors - IFA Network and IFA Network Services.
19-Apr-1996

Norcros has sold PP Payne, the packaging business, to Bunzl for £43.4m, as part of its plan to sell off its print and packaging operations.
19-Apr-1996

Kwik-Fit has acquired an additional 45 outlets by buying three companies for £12.3m - Autospeed Tyre & Exhaust Centres, Manor Tyre Group, and Ebley Tyre Services.
18-Apr-1996

ED&F Man Group has bought a majority of the assets of Ravioli, the Polish processor of edible nuts and cocoa beans, for £3.7m.
18-Apr-1996

Compass has won shareholder support to acquire a controlling stake in Eurest France, the French contract caterer.
18-Apr-1996

Redland has sold its European roof tiles operation to Braas, its German subsidiary, for £220m cash and at the same time increases its stake in Braas from 50.76% to 56.5%.
17-Apr-1996

British Aerospace has acquired AWA Defence Industries of Australia for £27.6m.
17-Apr-1996

The Bank of Ireland is buying the Bristol & West building society for £600m, which is expected to keep its own brand with no job losses.
16-Apr-1996

Hardy Oil & Gas has sold Hardy USA to a subsidiary of Enron for £118m in order to cut borrowings, acquire new assets and expand existing interests.
16-Apr-1996

CGA Direct, the insurance broker, has been bought by management from Oriel Group for £20m.
13-Apr-1996

Waterfall Holdings is to buy First Leisure's nine snooker and pool clubs for over £6.5m.
13-Apr-1996

Parkland Foods, the supplier of foods to convenience stores, has bought Dutch Oven, the baker based in Rowley Regis.
13-Apr-1996

Ericsson is buying out Vodafone's share of Orbitel Mobile Communications, their mobile equipment manufacturing joint venture, for undisclosed terms.
12-Apr-1996

Magnet has bought Allerton Glass, the double glazing concern, from Polypipe for £7m.
12-Apr-1996

Infogrames Entertainment of France is buying Ocean International, the UK-based computer games concern, in a deal worth about $100m which will result in one of the five biggest such companies in the world.
12-Apr-1996

Sega of Japan has acquired JPM, the gaming machines supplier, for undisclosed terms, in anticipation of a relaxation of gaming rules this summer.
12-Apr-1996

Mercury Taverns is buying Saxon Inns, the pub operator, from the administrators for £3.6m.
10-Apr-1996

Devro International, the maker of sausage casings, is selling its Devro America business to Nitta Gelatin of Japan for $26m.
10-Apr-1996

Eurocamp, the tour operator, is buying Tesh Travels GmbH and Tesh Travels AG, its agents in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, for £6.3m.
10-Apr-1996

John Cleland, the packaging maker based in Ulster, is undergoing a management buy-out from IWP International for £16m.
08-Apr-1996

Queensborough Holdings is acquiring Pleasureworld, OLP Holdings and Loreca, which run fairground rides and caravan sites, funded by a £10m cash call.
05-Apr-1996

Cadbury Schweppes' Trebor Bassett subsidiary is acquiring Craven Keiller, the boiled sweets and popcorn company, from Portfolio Foods.
05-Apr-1996

Sato Corporation is buying Nor Systems, the maker of hand-held price marking systems, from Norcros for £21.5m.
05-Apr-1996

Siebe is to acquire Unitech, the electronic controls concern, for £520m, thus creating the world's largest company in the sector.
04-Apr-1996

Regal Hotels has bought the White Hart chain from Granada for £122m.
04-Apr-1996

Stakis has bought the International Casino in Gibraltar for £5.5m.
04-Apr-1996

United Industries is buying Helical Spring, the Lancashire spring maker, for £950k.
04-Apr-1996

KPN, the Dutch telecoms concern, has bought Coventry Cable from Caledonian Media Communications for £24m.
03-Apr-1996

Rackwood Mineral Holdings, the coal company, is to buy Cory Coal, the coal distributor, for £2m, and DS Supplies, the opencast mining company, for £1.9m.
03-Apr-1996

Enron Europe has bought ICI's 50% share in their joint venture, Teesside Gas Transportation, for an undisclosed sum.
02-Apr-1996

Unit Press, the underseat mechanisms maker, has been sold by Calderburn to a management buy-out for £7m.
02-Apr-1996

The Newton Group, the independent investment house, has bought the asset management operation of Hogg Robinson Financial Services for an undisclosed sum.
02-Apr-1996

Sea Containers of Bermuda is to acquire Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, the ferry operator, for £47m.
30-Mar-1996

Readymix has bought RMC Catherwood, which operates in Scotland, the north of Ireland and the Isle of Man, for £23m.
30-Mar-1996

S Daniels, the food ingredients concern, is acquiring Johnsons Fresh Products, the orange juice distributor, for £6.6m, and may follow it up with further acquisitions.
29-Mar-1996

International CableTel is acquiring NTL, the IBA transmission operation, for £235m, in a move which should enable it to become a major force in telecommunications.
29-Mar-1996

Datrontech, the computer component distributor, has bought Summit Peripherals, the computer storage distributor, for £1.6m.
28-Mar-1996

Motorhouse, the car retailer, is undergoing a £32m management buy-out, in which NatWest Ventures will get a 25% stake.
27-Mar-1996

HP Bulmer is buying Inch's, the privately-owned third biggest cider maker in the UK, for £23m.
26-Mar-1996

Halifax is acquiring Clerical Medical, the life assurer, for £800m, which should enable it to use independent advisers for the sale of pensions, life assurance and investments.
26-Mar-1996

Burmah Castrol has sold its Swedish service station business to Norsk Hydro Olje for £24m.
26-Mar-1996

Royal Packaging Industries Van Leer has bought Lee Plastona from John Waddington for about £4.5m cash plus £3m inventory.
26-Mar-1996

Global Group is buying Express Caterers for an initial £850k.
23-Mar-1996

Morgan Grenfell Development Capital has bought CGA, the household and motor insurance telebroker, from Oriel for £12m.
22-Mar-1996

Louis Dreyfus, the French commodities concern, has bought Anderson Clayton, the Brazilian oil miller, from Unilever for undisclosed terms.
22-Mar-1996

Magna International of Canada is acquiring most of Marley's automotive components operations for £53m, including Marley Automotive Components in the UK, Karl Fels of Germany and its stake in a joint venture with Kansei of Japan.
21-Mar-1996

CRH of Dublin is buying The Jack B Parson Companies, the quarry business with operations in Utah, Nevada and Idaho, for $87m.
21-Mar-1996

Thomas Walter, the printed circuit board company, has been sold to management for £16m.
21-Mar-1996

Symonds Engineering is acquiring Zlin, the printed circuit board company, for £11.5m.
21-Mar-1996

Hillsdown Holdings' HL Foods subsidiary is to buy the UK canning operations of Groupe Danone's HP Foods, including the North Walsham factory but not the HP Sauce brand.
21-Mar-1996

SIG is buying two German insulation product distributors - WKT for £39m, and a 50% stake in Golinski Group for £7.5m with an option to buy the remaining 50%.
20-Mar-1996

Elan of Ireland has announced a $600m merger with Athena Neurosciences, the Californian biotechnology concern.
19-Mar-1996

Skyepharma plans to raise £140m on the market to acquire Jago Holdings, the Swiss drug delivery concern.
19-Mar-1996

Chesterton International has bought back the Chestertons Residential estate agency business in London from Woolwich Building Society for £8m.
16-Mar-1996

British Steel has bought British Rail's Castleton Long Welded Rail and Track Works, meaning that about a third of the railway industry by turnover has been sold off.
16-Mar-1996

Rexam, the printing and packaging concern, is selling three non-core operations: Opax, the lottery ticket maker, Victor, the colour masterbatch maker, and Rexam Performance Products, the US coated films concern.
15-Mar-1996

Yorkshire Food is to sell Scotia Group, its home baking business, to Hallco 63, part of a venture capital group, leaving it to focus on its Californian produce operations.
15-Mar-1996

Facia is acquiring the chain of 110 Bata shoe shops in Germany, its first move into continental Europe.
14-Mar-1996

Haden MacLellan has bought IFS, the industrial fasteners concern, for £12m, in order to increase its presence in the north of England.
14-Mar-1996

Britton Group has bought Packbourne, the polythene film converter, for £5.6m.
13-Mar-1996

SeaPerfect, the scallop and clam farmer, is expected to be sold to its largest shareholder, Mr Carlos Celle, to avoid liquidation.
12-Mar-1996

British Rail is selling the Central Infrastructure Maintenance Company to GT Railway Maintenance and also it is selling Western Infrastructure Maintenance to Amey Railways.
09-Mar-1996

IRG is buying Allied Radio, which covers Reigate, Crawley and Manchester, for £4.5m.
09-Mar-1996

FirstBus is to buy Greater Manchester Buses North for £47m and Portsmouth Transit for £5.2m.
08-Mar-1996

Simon Engineering has sold SPT, Robertson Research Australia and Robertson Research International, as well as stakes in two Indonesian joint ventures, to Robertson Research Holdings, a company 49.9% owned by Simon Engineering Finance.
08-Mar-1996

Zeneca has sold its speciality inks business to Sun Chemical for £40m and is discussing the sale of its textile dyes operation.
08-Mar-1996

Burtonwood Brewery is buying Cafe Inns' interest in their Vantage Inns joint venture, which has 54 pubs.
07-Mar-1996

Fishers Intl, the financial services concern, is buying Robert Bishop (Southern), the claims management company, and Miller Knight, the loss adjuster, for a maximum £3m.
07-Mar-1996

Lynx Holdings is acquiring Tesoft, the Spanish automotive software concern, for £6.4m.
06-Mar-1996

McKechnie has acquired Plexicor Australia, the thermoforming and painting concern, for £14m.
06-Mar-1996

Inspec has acquired a polyimide fibres operation from Lenzing of Austria for £5.7m.
06-Mar-1996

Tesco is buying Kmart's Czech and Slovak outlets for £77m, including seven department stores in Slovakia and six in the Czech Republic.
06-Mar-1996

Marks & Spencer is selling its 85-strong Canadian chain of D'Allaird's stores to Comark, and its Canadian strategy will now be to replicate its successful UK format.
06-Mar-1996

Millets Leisure, the chain of outdoor clothes and camping equipment shops, has been bought from Sears in a management buy-out, for about £17m.
05-Mar-1996

ICI is buying Bunge, the South American paints concern, for $390m, its first major acquisition in South America.
05-Mar-1996

IBM is buying Data Sciences, the computer services spin-off from Thorn EMI, for £95m, which means that the company's planned stock market flotation has been cancelled.
05-Mar-1996

British Polythene Industries has bought Bibby & Baron, the paper and polythene bags concern, for £7.4m.
05-Mar-1996

Johnson & Higgins, the US insurance broker, has bought Corporate Risk, the Scottish broker, as it attempts to become the leader in large accounts for UK plcs.
04-Mar-1996

VDC is buying ProCare, the dental equipment concern, from Enviromed for about £4m.
02-Mar-1996

GWR of Swindon is buying Prospect, the New Zealand radio business with 12 stations, for £11.6m.
02-Mar-1996

Cowie has bought County Bus Holdings from National Express for £8.6m.
01-Mar-1996

Storehouse is acquiring Children's World, the 56-strong chain, from Boots for £62m and will integrate it with Mothercare.
01-Mar-1996

McDonnell Information Systems has sold International Banking Systems to Management Technology, the US banking software concern, in a deal worth about $3m.
29-Feb-1996

Ascot Holdings is selling 251 pubs to Mayfair Taverns, a management buy-out team, for £29m.
28-Feb-1996

Pilkington's Tiles, the wall tiles and durable floors company, has been bought from BTR by management for £21m, and has plans to expand in the US, Hong Kong, China, the Middle East and the Netherlands.
28-Feb-1996

Quadramatic is paying up to £10.2m to acquire Controls and Automation, the temperature controllers manufacturer.
24-Feb-1996

Bristol & West, the building society, is withdrawing from estate agencies with the sale of its remaining Hamptons branches to a company created by NatWest Ventures and Cluttons Residential Estate Agency, for £3.8m.
23-Feb-1996

Sema Group is acquiring Datashield, the computer disaster recovery concern, from Sogeris.
22-Feb-1996

Torex Hire, the tool hire company, is acquiring Smart Terminals, the developer of computer-based management systems for retailers, for £4.8m.
22-Feb-1996

Weyrad Electronics has been bought from Racal Electronics by a management buy-in team for £3m.
22-Feb-1996

The catering division of Sims Food Group has been bought by a management buy-in buy-out team.
21-Feb-1996

Time and Data Systems International, the card-based payment systems company, has been bought by management for £3.5m.
21-Feb-1996

National Westminster Bank is acquiring Gartmore, the fund management concern which was 75% owned by Banque Indosuez, for £472m.
20-Feb-1996

Finelist is acquiring Edmunds of Bridgend, the Welsh automotive parts distributor, for £450k.
19-Feb-1996

Independent Insurance Group is to buy Safom, the French insurance underwriting agency.
17-Feb-1996

Siebe is selling Barber-Colman Motors, its US electrical motors operation, to Jordan Industries for £13m.
16-Feb-1996

The Second Pub Estate Company is buying Go-Ahead Leisure, which runs 22 pubs in the north east, from Go-Ahead Group for about £3.2m.
16-Feb-1996

Unilever has made an agreed bid of $770m for Helene Curtis, the US personal products company.
15-Feb-1996

Unilever is acquiring Consorcio Agro Industrial de Malloa, the Chilean food manufacturing group that is the leading tomato paste producer, for £66m.
15-Feb-1996

Bausch & Lomb of the US has acquired Award, the Scottish maker of disposable contact lenses, for an undisclosed sum.
15-Feb-1996

Lowndes Lambert is acquiring Blackwall Group, the holding company for Blackwall Green the insurance broker, for up to £10m.
15-Feb-1996

GEI International has bought Turbo Systems, the maker of process machinery for the food industry, from United Industries for £2m.
14-Feb-1996

Associated Newspapers has acquired a majority stake in the PeopleBank on-line recruitment agency, which claims to save employers 90% of the costs associated with finding new staff.
13-Feb-1996

P&P is selling Principal Distribution, the computer peripherals and software distributor, to a "buy-in management buy-out", for an undisclosed sum.
13-Feb-1996

Britton Group has bought Polylope, the polythene envelopes maker, and Transrap, the converter of film into packaging, from Sidlaw for about £1.5m.
13-Feb-1996

BTR is to buy GenCorp's anti-vibration business in the US for $100m, as a step towards becoming a global company in auto components.
12-Feb-1996

United Breweries is acquiring Marr Holdings, the operator of 134 pubs in the south of England, and the new business will be renamed Inn Business Group.
10-Feb-1996

Pearson is buying Harper Collins' educational publishing activities for $580m.
10-Feb-1996

United News and Media has announced a £3bn merger with MAI, bringing together a wide range of media activities but expected to bypass restrictions on media ownership.
09-Feb-1996

Telecom Sciences Corporation, a new company, has bought Philips' Scottish telecoms equipment activities.
09-Feb-1996

Wimpey and Tarmac have completed a deal to swap Wimpey's quarrying and contracting operations for Tarmac's housebuilding.
09-Feb-1996

Haden MacLellan, the engineering concern, has bought Brandt Filtration Group of Atlanta, Georgia, for $3m.
09-Feb-1996

Liverpool Victoria is acquiring Frizzell, the insurance concern, from Marsh & McLennan of New York for £188m.
08-Feb-1996

Morgan Crucible has bought a 80% stake in Magna Industrial Company, the Hong Kong-based speciality chemicals concern.
08-Feb-1996

Klinge Pharma has bought Ribosepharm, Medeva's cancer products business in Germany, for £54m.
07-Feb-1996

Inspec has acquired a speciality chemical company in the US with plants in Arizona and Kansas, for $29m from Allied Signal.
07-Feb-1996

Johnson Matthey is buying Cray Research's US printed circuit boards operation for $40m.
07-Feb-1996

Quicks, the Manchester-based motor distributor, is buying Premier Parts of Leeds and Chester for £2.1m.
07-Feb-1996

Kewill Systems has bought Process Computing, the warehouse management systems company, for £3.1m.
03-Feb-1996

Unilever has bought a 75% stake in Lyons Irish Holdings, the tea company, from Allied Domecq for £74m.
02-Feb-1996

Compagnie Financiere SFAC of France is to acquire Trade Indemnity, the credit insurer, for £177m.
02-Feb-1996

Allied Domecq is to sell Chacalli de Decker, the duty-free operation based in Antwerp, to Seabourne World Express.
02-Feb-1996

Roxboro Group has acquired Pressure Systems, the US instrumentation company, for £4.9m.
02-Feb-1996

Harrisons & Crosfield has acquired Daniel Products, the US maker of chemicals for coatings, for $30m.
02-Feb-1996

Ashtead Group, the plant hire concern, is acquiring Leada Acrow, which rents construction equipment in the UK and Ireland, for £16m and McLean of the US for £20m.
01-Feb-1996

Oxford Molecular, the developer of software for the drugs industry, has bought three US companies - Chemical Informatics, MacVector and Health Designs.
01-Feb-1996

Hay Hall Group has bought three engineering businesses from TI - TI Desford Tubes, Hollow Extrusions and TI Matrix Engineering.
01-Feb-1996

Carlton Communications has bought SelecTV, the cable channel, for £5.2m, but will put its holding into a "dead-locked" company to avoid breaching broadcasting rules.
31-Jan-1996

Tomkins has bought Gates Rubber, the US auto components concern, for $1.4bn.
31-Jan-1996

Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale of Germany is acquiring Panmure Gordon, the London stockbroker, for about £30m.
30-Jan-1996

Stagecoach Holdings is buying another bus company - GM Buses South, the Manchester bus operator, for £41m - but now plans to concentrate on rail franchises.
30-Jan-1996

Ascot Holdings is selling its Spanish hotels business to Riu for £42m.
30-Jan-1996

Siemens Nixdorf has bought ICL's medical business for £15m, which should give it 25% of the health care market.
27-Jan-1996

Kerry Group has bought Ciprial, the French maker of fruit-based food ingredients, for £52m.
27-Jan-1996

Hampson Industries is to buy Brookside Metal Company for £5.8m so that it will rely less on the automotive sector.
26-Jan-1996

Granada has finally gained control of Forte, and is immediately looking to sell Forte's luxury hotels.
24-Jan-1996

Tractebel of Belgium is looking at possible acquisitions in the UK, prompting rumours that it may be looking at Midlands Electricity.
23-Jan-1996

Inishtech, the Dublin-based packaging and paper concern, has acquired Meridian Printing and Elite Colour Group, both of the US, for $13m.
23-Jan-1996

WS Atkins is acquiring Faithful & Gould, the Cleveland quantity surveyors, for £21m.
23-Jan-1996

Farnell Electronics is buying Premier Industrial Corp, the US electronics distributor, for $2.8bn.
23-Jan-1996

Lookers is buying Charles Hurst, the Northern Ireland motor distributor with franchises for Rover, Renault and Nissan.
23-Jan-1996

Stagecoach has bought Devon General and Bayline, the Devon bus companies with 320 vehicles, for up to £16.1m.
20-Jan-1996

Fenner has acquired Wiechmann Technische Ijzerhandel's power transmission distribution business in the Netherlands.
20-Jan-1996

Break for the Border Group is buying the Gaiety companies, thus gaining the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin.
19-Jan-1996

Unichem is poised to acquire Lloyds Chemists for £480m, which would create the leading pharmacy chain and drugs wholesaler in the UK.
18-Jan-1996

Fairey Group is acquiring Particle Measuring Systems, the US contamination equipment concern, for $75m.
18-Jan-1996

Sema Group has bought Goya Services Telematicos, the Spanish internet provider.
18-Jan-1996

BTR Packaging's ACI Rockware unit has bought Labplas (UK).
18-Jan-1996

Bryan Donkin's gas controls activities have been sold by Hopkinsons Group to RMG Regel & Messtechnik of Germany.
18-Jan-1996

Pearson Professional is acquiring Data Management Services and The Magazine Business.
18-Jan-1996

McKechnie has bought Thompson, the US wheel trim maker, for £32m.
17-Jan-1996

Abbott Mead Vickers has bought Fishburn Hedges Boys Williams, the corporate communications concern, for up to £15m.
17-Jan-1996

Matthew Clark has bought Dunn & Moore, the Scottish delivered wholesale concern, for an initial £3.7m.
17-Jan-1996

The Jackswood chain of five garden centres has been bought by Wyevale Garden Centres for £2.78m.
16-Jan-1996

PolyGram is acquiring the PDO compact disc production plant in Blackburn from Philips.
16-Jan-1996

Hillsdown has bought Nager Holdings, which gives it 91% of Hobson, the food and drink concern.
16-Jan-1996

Charles Baynes has bought Amsco, the US valves maker, for $8m.
16-Jan-1996

Heinz has acquired Britwest, the Telford-based maker of single-serve condiments and drinks.
13-Jan-1996

Stateside Foods has acquired St Christopher Foods pizza business, and will transfer production from Skipton to Bolton.
13-Jan-1996

Wisconsin Central Transportation has acquired the three British Rail Trainload Freight businesses for £225m.
13-Jan-1996

Bull UK & Ireland has bought a majority stake in Cara Group, the Irish computer services concern.
13-Jan-1996

ICI Explosives is acquiring a 51% stake in Ibernobel of Spain.
13-Jan-1996

Global Group is buying Mawbeef Manufacturing, the Birmingham meat products company, and Ravencrown, the frozen food distributor.
13-Jan-1996

John Fyfe, Bardon Group's Scottish concrete products maker, has acquired about £1m of assets from Robert Paterson Precast of Airdrie.
11-Jan-1996

CRH is expanding its US masonry products business and has also bought Grillo Bausysteme, the German rooflight maker, and Vebofoam, the Belgian polystyrene insulation concern.
11-Jan-1996

Vibroplant is selling its American Hi-Lift business to Primeco for $69m.
11-Jan-1996

Biocompatibles International is acquiring Atlantis Catheter Company, the maker of balloon angioplasty products, for up to $21m.
10-Jan-1996

Kleinwort Benson has bought most of SBC Warburg's leasing finance and advisory business.
10-Jan-1996

Allen has bought the Rentall tool-hire company for £1.5m.
10-Jan-1996

Xyratex of Hampshire has sold its flexible circuit division to Adflex Solutions of the US for $56m.
10-Jan-1996

British Polythene Industries has acquired Zedcor, the Oxfordshire-based polythene supplier, for £3.5m.
10-Jan-1996

Courtaulds is selling Courtaulds Film Cellophane, the packaging film business, to UCB of Belgium for £15m.
09-Jan-1996

BTR is buying Metalurgica Carto, the Brazilian motor parts maker.
09-Jan-1996

Ellis & Everard has acquired George Mann, the US distributor of caustic soda, bleach and chlorine, and Surphos Chemicals, the Benelux surfactants and phosphates distributor.
09-Jan-1996

Brent Chemicals has sold its industrial chemicals activities in Asia to Chemetall, as part of its simplification programme.
05-Jan-1996

BOCM Pauls plans to buy Usborne's pig production operation for £7.4m.
04-Jan-1996

Grafton Group of Dublin has bought RJ Johnson & Co, the Oxford builders merchant, and PPS Structural Services, the Scottish mortar business.
04-Jan-1996

Life Assurance Holding is acquiring Lifetime Assurance's UK activities.
04-Jan-1996

ADT has sold off its vehicle auctions activities in the UK and Europe to management for £216m.
04-Jan-1996

Stroud & Swindon Building Society is acquiring City & Metropolitan, with C&M members likely to get bonuses of up to £2,500.
03-Jan-1996

Albert E Sharp is acquiring Brown Shipley, the stockbroking and personal equity plan operation, from Guinness Peat for £7m.
03-Jan-1996

BTR has sold its minority stake in Titan, the Malaysian petrochemical concern, for £89m.
03-Jan-1996

Unigate has acquired the Lovell bacon business from Booker for £20.2m.
03-Jan-1996

Calor Group is acquiring a 49% stake in the Brazilian LPG distributor, Supergasbras Distribuidora de Gas.
03-Jan-1996

Hickson International has sold Hickson Kerley, the US performance chemical operation, to Tessenderlo of Belgium.
03-Jan-1996