(Adds Carillion, Silver Lake Partners, Citigroup)
Aug 20 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Wednesday:
** British construction company Carillion Plc said it had abandoned its pursuit of a merger with Balfour Beatty Plc on Wednesday after Balfour rejected its advances for the third time.
** Silver Lake Partners LP and Bain Capital LLC are among the buyout firms vying to acquire Shutterfly Inc, an online photo-sharing services provider with a market value of $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
** Citigroup Inc is preparing to sell its Japanese retail banking operations, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday, as it waves the white flag on a venture plagued by regulatory troubles and anaemic lending.
** Private equity firm Bain Capital LLC has agreed to acquire a 50 percent stake in TOMS Shoes Inc in a deal that values the company, which makes casual footwear known as alpargatas, at about $625 million including debt, according to people familiar with the matter.
** Germany's Infineon Technologies AG is nearing a deal to buy a U.S.-based semiconductor company for about $2 billion, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
** Novartis AG has signed a licensing deal to hand over its experimental tuberculosis (TB) drugs to the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, joining a growing Big Pharma retreat from antibiotics.
** Lexmark International Inc on Wednesday raised its offer for Readsoft AB for the fourth time after buying stakes from the Swedish software firm's founders, the latest turn in a bidding war against Ohio-based software developer Hyland.
** German 'bad bank' Erste Abwicklungsanstalt (EAA), which has been tasked with winding down assets of failed German lender WestLB, said it expected interested parties to make concrete offers for mortgage bank Westimmo.
** Swiss engineering company ABB said on Wednesday it had agreed to sell its Full Service business unit to private equity company Nordic Capital for an undisclosed amount, the latest in a string of divestments of its non-core operations.
** The German government would entertain a sale of its 17 percent stake in Commerzbank only after a restructuring of the lender is completed in 2016, a top finance ministry official told a German magazine.
** Lear Corp, a maker of auto seats and electrical power systems, is nearing a deal to buy Eagle Ottawa LLC, a supplier of premium automotive leather, for more than $800 million, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
** Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines Ltd said on Wednesday it was in the preliminary stages of considering a potential sale or spinoff its logistics business as a separate unit. Reuters reported earlier that NOL, a Singapore-based shipping company, was looking to sell its APL Logistics division for more than $750 million.
** PetSmart Inc said on Tuesday it would explore a potential sale of the company, bowing to mounting pressure from several shareholders led by activist investor Jana Partners LLC.
** Thai hotel and fast-food chain operator Minor International Pcl plans to spend up to 37 billion baht ($1.16 billion) on expansion and acquisitions over the next five years, accelerating growth overseas to offset domestic weakness.
** An unidentified fund based in Vienna has expressed interest in rescuing Bulgaria's Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank) and will present a concrete plan to do so within 10 days, Bulgaria's Prime Minister Georgi Bliznashki said on Wednesday.
** Cox Communications Inc is not interested in merging with wireless carrier T-Mobile US Inc or rival cable providers, Cox President Pat Esser said on Tuesday, dispelling rumors recently swirling about the private company.
** Mexico's Grupo Angeles Servicios de Saude has made a takeover bid for Espirito Santo Saude, the health unit of Portugal's indebted Espirito Santo family.
** The private equity arm of French luxury goods giant LVMH will invest up to $80 million in South Korea's YG Entertainment Inc, which manages a stable of K-pop performers including "Gangnam Style" rapper Psy.
** Inpex Corp, Japan's biggest oil and gas explorer, said on Wednesday it had agreed to sell a 1.2 percent stake in Australia's Ichthys liquefied natural gas project to Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power Co.
** Hony Capital, the private equity firm backed by Legend Holdings, said it bought a 20 percent stake in Chinese farm machinery maker Chery Heavy Industry Co Ltd for 696 million yuan ($113.3 million), seeking to profit from Beijing's drive to modernize its farm industry.
** Russian private healthcare company MD Medical Group plans to expand into the country's third-largest city Novosibirsk via a $45.5 million acquisition, its biggest so far. MDMG, which specializes in women's healthcare, said its target Avicenna owns three clinics and a hospital with a maternity ward and is the largest private healthcare company in Russia outside Moscow and St Petersburg.
** Oman's Renaissance Services said on Wednesday that its unit Topaz Energy and Marine had secured a $75 million investment from Standard Chartered Private Equity. (Compiled by Amrutha Penumudi and Amrutha Gayathri in Bangalore)