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Deals of the day- Mergers and acquisitions

(Adds GE, Hellman, Rogers, Vodafone, Naspers, CME, Aeropostale, Rosneft, Carlyle, Aker, Elliott, Merck, CWB, Hexagon, Icahn, Bank of Cyprus, Bank of Ireland, Gazprom, Vivendi, Banco Popolare, Intesa, Hutchison Whampoa, Alitalia, MOL, Moncler)

Nov 26 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2030 GMT on Tuesday:

** European Union antitrust regulators cleared on Tuesday Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc's proposed $13.6 billion takeover of Life Technologies Corp, after the U.S. company agreed to sell three units to ease competition concerns.

** The Kremlin extended its grip over radio and television broadcasting on Tuesday when the media arm of state-controlled Gazprom bought mining tycoon Vladimir Potanin's Profmedia.

** Spanish oil major Repsol's board is set to accept compensation of $5 billion in bonds for Argentina's nationalization of its stake in YPF, less than half it had demanded, sources close to the board said.

** Hedge fund Elliott International has lifted its stake in German drugs distributor Celesio, bringing it close to a position where it could block the $8.3 billion takeover bid by McKesson.

Celesio said on Tuesday that Elliott gained control of 25.16 percent of the voting rights in the company.

** Shareholders in UK shale developer Dart Energy backed a boardoom coup this week, voting out the chairman and his allies despite his warning that the move was an attempt to acquire the company on the cheap.

** Bank of Ireland will issue new equity worth more than 5 percent of its market value, in a break from stock market norms, as part of efforts to repay 1.8 billion euros ($2.4 billion) of a state bailout.

** Men's Wearhouse Inc offered to buy fellow retailer Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc for $1.5 billion, less than two weeks after Jos. A. Bank walked away from its own offer to acquire its larger rival.

** At least six major private equity groups are competing to buy the industrial packaging segment of Illinois Tool Works Inc , in a deal that could fetch more than $3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

** Carlyle Group LP said on Tuesday it would acquire Diversified Global Asset Management Corporation (DGAM), becoming the latest alternative asset manager to add a manager of funds that in turn invest in other hedge funds to its investment platform.

** Poland wants to merge its airline industry into a single holding company, which would combine assets the flagship carrier LOT, worth around 2.5 billion euros ($3.38 billion), according to daily Rzeczpospolita.

** Bayer AG has offered to pay $2.4 billion for Norway's Algeta ASA, its partner for a new prostrate cancer treatment, a 27 percent premium to the stock's last close, Algeta said.

** ThyssenKrupp will sell its U.S. steel plant to a consortium of ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal in a deal worth 200 billion yen ($1.97 billion), Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported in its online edition on Tuesday, without citing sources.

** Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman has struck a deal to buy insurance software provider Applied Systems from Bain Capital for $1.8 billion, H&F said on Tuesday.

** South African e-commerce and media firm Naspers has $1.5 billion in offshore cash resources available for acquisitions, it said on Tuesday.

** Norwegian holding firm Aker plans to buy another 16.5 million shares or 6 percent of oil services firm Aker Solution, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

** Private equity firm Bain Capital LLC is in talks with other private equity firms to sell its insurance software provider Applied Systems Inc for more than $1 billion, three people familiar with the matter said on Monday.

** A number of Italian and Russian firms in the energy, financial and industrials sectors have signed commercial deals during a bilateral meeting between the two countries, the Italy and Russia Business Forum said in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement listed deals signed by Italian energy companies Eni and Enel with Rosneft and between Russian bank Vnesheconombank.

** Russian energy giant Rosneft is looking to raise its stake in Italian refiner Saras but that will depend on decisions by the Italian government, the Rosneft chairman said on Tuesday.

** Poland confirmed on Tuesday it might sell its 39 percent stake in local chemical company Ciech through the Warsaw bourse.

** Australia's Ansell Ltd said it had agreed to buy U.S. gloves maker BarrierSafe Solutions International for about $615 million, a move to expand its position in the hand protection market in North America.

** The founding family behind Vossloh AG, a German maker of trains and rail technology, said it would sell a 22 percent stake in the company on the open market to diversify its investments.

** Shares in Vossloh AG, a German maker of trains and rail technology, will be offered at an estimated price range of 68-70 euros each, a person familiar with the transaction told Reuters on Tuesday.

** Vivendi's supervisory board unanimously backed a plan to demerge the group's SFR telecoms business as part of moves to reduce exposure to telecoms and focus on media, the French company said on Tuesday.

** Malaysian canning company, Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd , has received a 1.46 billion ringgit ($455.18 million) takeover offer from private company Aspire Insight Sdn Bhd.

** The head of state-controlled SACE said on Tuesday there had been no contacts with insurer Assicurazioni Generali over a possible sale of a stake in the group providing credit and insurance to exporters which Italy is trying to privatize.

** Medical devices firm Smith & Nephew said on Tuesday it had agreed to acquire the assets and business of Politec Saude relating to distribution of its advanced wound management products in Brazil.

** Singapore's DBS Group Holdings and ABN AMRO are among the suitors to place final bids for Societe Generale's Asia private bank, in a $400 million deal, as smaller players exit the region's competitive private banking business.

** India's Tata Power is looking for more acquisitions as part of a $260-million-a-year investment push into renewable energy, following last month's purchase of a wind farm in western Gujarat from AES Corp, a senior official said.

** South Africa's Vodacom Group will pay 2.5 billion rand ($250 million) in cash to acquire an additional 17 percent in its Tanzania unit, increasing exposure to one of its few businesses outside its home market.

** Italy's Banco Popolare said on Tuesday it had approved a merger with two small units in a reorganisation which it said will boost its core capital by more than 50 basis points.

** Bumi Plc Chairman Samin Tan said he has secured a $223 million loan from Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International AG that could pave the way for a planned split between the London-listed coal miner and Indonesia's Bakrie family.

** CME Group Inc said on Tuesday that it had sold the home of its New York Mercantile Exchange for $200 million and would lease back the trading floor and some office space for a term of 15 years.

** French state-controlled utility EDF said in a statement it had initiated the sale of its 4.01 percent stake in water and waste group Veolia Environnement via a private placement with institutional investors.

** The government of South Korea plans to sell part of its $4.3 billion stake in state-owned lender, Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), for $142 million, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters.

** Measurement technology group Hexagon said on Tuesday it was still open to buying all of Norwegian positioning system firm Veripos.

** Tycoon Suleiman Kerimov is further shrinking his investments in Russia with the sale of his stake in the country's biggest homebuilder PIK, daily paper Kommersant reported on Tuesday.

** Private investors from Gulf Arab countries, including a royal family from the United Arab Emirates, plan to establish the first full-fledged Islamic bank headquartered in the euro zone, an executive said on Tuesday. The investors aim to launch the venture, named Eurisbank, in Luxembourg during the last quarter of 2014, said Ammar Dabbour, managing partner at Excellencia Investment Management.

** Russia's Sistema is considering buying into Ozon, a fast-growing e-commerce and internet shopping company backed by private equity firm Baring Vostok, the oil-to-telecoms group said on Tuesday.

** Struggling teen clothing retailer Aeropostale Inc , under pressure from some investors to sell itself, adopted a poison pill that would be triggered if a stockholder buys 10 percent of the company.

** Fertilizer maker Yara Internationla ASA made a major acquisition in Latin America, one of the world's fastest-growing agricultural markets, as it seeks to increase production capacity by about one third.

** Cash-strapped Alitalia rebuffed on Tuesday an offer from low-cost airline Ryanair to feed passengers into its long-haul routes and help boost the Italian carrier's profitability.

** SolarWorld, once Germany's top solar group, agreed to buy one of Bosch's solar panel plants, as the car parts supplier rids itself of a business that caused it to post billions of euros worth of losses.

** Poland's biggest power producer PGE is no longer interested in buying a state in smaller state sibling Energa as part of its initial public offer, PGE's acting chief executive Piotr Szymanek said on Tuesday.

** Spanish construction and services group FCC is to agree the sale of 51 percent of its energy unit to a fund within the next few days, newspaper Expansion reported on Tuesday, without citing its sources.

** Intesa Sanpaolo's chief executive said on Tuesday that Italy's biggest retail bank could become a takeover target for foreign banks unless it boosted its profitability and market capitalisation.

** Dubai builder Arabtec will raise its stake in contractor Target Engineering to 98 percent from 60 percent in a 270 million dirhams ($73 million) deal, Arabtec said on Tuesday.

** Bega Cheese Ltd said on Tuesday it is extending its offer for Australia's Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory Co by two weeks as it struggles to remain in the takeover race.

** Mexican broadcaster TV Azteca on Monday bought the troubled Atlas soccer club for about $50 million, the club's president, Eugenio Ruiz, said at a press conference.

** Enbridge Inc said on Monday that Marathon Petroleum Corp agreed to take a stake and become the main shipper on the company's $2.6 billion Sandpiper pipeline project, which will take crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken field to U.S. refiners.

** German healthcare group Merck KGaA is looking for acquisitions and collaborations with start-ups to grow its drugs business in the United States, a senior Merck official said.

** CWB, formerly known as the Canadian Wheat Board, has agreed to buy grain handling assets from Upper Lakes Group, giving it more flexibility to store and move the crops it buys.

** Fifty-eight of the 73 stores of insolvent German home improvement retailer Max Bahr, by parent company Praktiker , are likely to be saved in a deal with supermarket chain Globus, two people familiar with the negotiations said on Tuesday.

** One of the biggest proposed U.S. law firm mergers of the year has been called off, the leaders of the two firms told Reuters Monday. The potential merger between the California-based Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in New York would have created one of the largest law firms in the country. It was first reported by Reuters on Oct. 25. (Compiled by Rohit T.K. and Shubhankar Chakravorty in Bangalore)