Williams Cos. (NYSE: WMB) has offered to acquire gas pipeline company Southern Union Co. (NYSE: SUG) for $4.9 billion in cash, or $39 per share. This tops a recent $33 per share buyout offer for Southern Union from Energy Transfer Equity (NYSE: ETE).
3i Group has agreed to sell KemFine, a Finland-based chemicals company focused on intermediates and active ingredients for the agrochemicals market, to German specialty chemicals company CABB. No financial terms were disclosed. KemFine generated around €81 million in 2010 revenue.
Baidu Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU) has agreed to invest $306 million for a majority stake in Chinese travel search engine Qunar. Existing Qunar investors GSR Ventures and Mayfield Fund will retain ownership positions. www.baidu.com
THURSDAY, JUNE 23
The Maple Group, a consortium of Canadian pension funds and banks, has increased its bid for the Toronto Stock Exchange from C$48 to C$50 per share. A rival offer from the London Stock Exchange is valued at C$44.86 per share, but LSE today offered to add a C$4 per share dividend if the deal closes
SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI) has acquired TriGeo, a Post Falls, Idaho–based provider of log and event management software, for $35 million in cash. www.solarwinds.com
Vale, a Brazilian mining company, says that it plans to repurchase the 15.7% of its outstanding shares for around $1.4 billion.
McKesson (NYSE: MCK) has agreed to acquire Portico Systems, a Blue Bell, Pa.-based provider of software solutions for health insurance plans. The deal is valued at $90 million in cash, including $5 million of earn-outs. Portico has raised venture capital from Edison Venture Fund and Safeguard Scientifics. www.mckesson.com
Electronic Arts is in talks to acquire PopCap Games, a Seattle-based multi-platform video game developer, for around $1 billion, according to TechCrunch. The company has raised VC funding from Meritech Capital Partners, Larry Bowman and John McCaw. www.ea.com
Permira has received first-round bids for French animal feed company Provimi, according to Reuters. Bidders include Cargill, DSM (Netherlands), Nutreco (Netherlands) and New Hope Group (China). The deal could fetch around €2 billion, with J.P. Morgan managing the process. www.permira.com
Warburg Pincus is looking to sell Camp Systems, a Ronkonkoma, N.Y.-based maker of software for business aircraft, according to Reuters. The company is expected to garner between $500 million and $600 million. www.campsystems.com
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22
AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) has agreed to sell medical devices and dental implants unit Astra Tech to Dentsply International (Nasdaq: XRAY) for $1.8 billion. Several private equity firms had been circling the unit.
Demag Cranes has recommended that its shareholders accept a sweetened buyout offer from Terex(NYSE: TEX), which would value the German crane maker at €963 million. The original bid was €884 million, which Demag rejected as inadequate. www.terex.com
Oracle has agreed to acquire FatWire Software, a Mineola, N.Y.–based provider of web experience management solutions. No financial terms were disclosed. FatWire had raised VC funding from such firms as EuclidSR Partners, NewLight Management, Sion Power Corp., Wheatley Partners and Falconstar Software. www.fatwire.com
Hulu reportedly has been approached about being acquired, although the suitor has not been identified. The online entertainment company is backed by Providence Equity Partners, Disney-ABC, NBCUniversal and News Corp. It has been rumored to be preparing for an IPO. www.hulu.com
Riverside Partners has agreed to sell Alteris Renewables Inc., an integrator of renewable energy systems in the Northeastern U.S., to Real Goods Solar Inc. (Nasdaq: RSOL). The all-stock deal is valued at around $20 million. www.alterisinc.com
TUESDAY, JUNE 21
EMI Group, the music publisher taken over by lender Citigroup back in February, is back on the block. The company announced yesterday that it has begun “to explote and evaluate potential strategic alternatives, including a possible sale, recapitalization of initial public offering.” Terra Firma Capital Partners had acquired EMI for $8.4 billion in 2007, but lost control of the company after it defaulted on its debt. www.emi.com
Foster’s Group Ltd. (ASX: FGL) has rejected a A$9.5 billion cash buyout offer from SABMiller PLC (LSE: SAB). SABMiller says it will continue to persue the Australian brewer.
Harbin Electric (Nasdaq: HRBN), a Chinese maker of electric motors for freight trains, has agreed to be acquired for $750 million, or $24 per share, by a group led by company CEO Tianfu Yang.
Tyco International (NYSE: TYC) is in talks to acquire Visonic Ltd., an Israeli maker of electronic securitiy systems, for between $90 million and $105 million.
MONDAY, JUNE 20
PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE: PNC) has agreed to acquire the U.S. retail banking operations of Royal Bank of Canada (TSX: RY) for $3.45 billion. BB&T Corp. also had been seeking to acquire the unit. www.pnc.com
CSR PLC, a British chipmaker, has amended the terms of its pending acquisition of Zoran Corp. (Nasdaq: ZRAN), a Sunnyvale, Calif.–based maker of software products for digital audio and video compression applicationfrom $679 million in stock to $484 million in cash and stock ($313m in cash). This comes after Zoran cut its Q2 projections due to the Japanese earthquake and Cisco’s decision to shut its Flip camera division. www.zoran.com
Montagu Private Equity has decided not to sell British electronics retailer Maplin Electronics, for which it had been seeking for than £400 million, according to the Sunday Telegraph. The company had received interest from Advent International, Blackstone Group and CVC Capital Partners, but Montagu decided that the troubled UK retail market would have too negative an effect on the sale price.
Carpenter Technology Corp. (NYSE: CRS) has agreed to acquire Latrobe Specialty Metals Inc. from shareholders like Hicks Equity Partners and The Watermill Group. The deal is valued at approximately $558 million, including $170 million in cash to eliminate existing Latrobe debt. www.latrobesteel.com
Dell has acquired RNA Networks, a Portland, Ore.-based provider of memory virtualization software, according to VentureWire. RNA Networks had raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Menlo Ventures. www.dell.com
