(Adds AT&T, ZF Friedrichshafen, TransCanada, Enel, CRH, SUMA and Banco Espirito Santo)
Sept 18 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Thursday:
** More than ninety former business partners of AT&T Inc are demanding the Federal Communications Commision block the wireless carrier's $48.5 billion bid for DirecTV, saying the company engaged in anti-competitive behavior and violated fiduciary duty.
** German auto supplier ZF Friedrichshafen's net debt will rise to some 8.5 billion euros ($11 billion), or about 2.4 times core earnings (EBITDA), after it buys rival TRW , a banker familiar with the deal said. Earlier this week, ZF agreed to buy U.S.-based TRW for $13.5 billion including debt.
** Germany's Bayer plans to list its less profitable plastics business on the stock market in a deal that could value the division at around 10 billion euros ($13 billion) as it seeks to focus entirely on healthcare and crop science.
** Calgary-based TransCanada Corp is emerging as a possible target of activist investors, with several U.S. activist hedge funds reviewing the nearly $38 billion pipeline operator as a break-up candidate, people close to the matter said.
** Italy's biggest utility Enel SpA faces a busy few months as it reshapes itself to focus on Latin America, with its stake in Spain's Endesa SA under the spotlight and more than 4 billion euros ($5 billion) of assets in Eastern Europe to sell.
** Irish cement maker CRH PLC is exploring a bid for all the assets rivals Lafarge SA and Holcim Ltd must sell to steer their mega-merger past competition watchdogs, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Four consortia of private equity firms are also eyeing the whole portfolio, with bids valuing the assets at 5 billion to 7 billion euros ($6.5 billion-$9 billion) expected soon, the sources said.
** Australia's Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) is in early-stage preparations to list the country's No. 2 cinema chain, The Hoyts Group, in a sale that would value it around A$900 million ($807.39 million), a source familiar with the deal told Reuters.
** The Portuguese government named SUMA, a consortium led by the country's Mota-Engil SGPS SA construction company, as the winning bidder in the privatisation of waste management firm EGF with an offer of 149.9 million euros ($193 million).
** An insolvent holding company of Portugal's Espirito Santo family has threatened a lawsuit if the successor of collapsed Banco Espirito Santo SA does not hand over the proceeds of the proposed sale of the group's Portuguese insurer Tranquilidade.
** Cypriot lender Bank of Cyprus said it has agreed to sell a UK loan portfolio to Mars Capital Finance and Camael Mortgages for 361 million euros ($465 million).
** Parkland Fuel Corp, Canada's largest fuel distributor and retailer, said it will buy fellow retail fuel marketer Pioneer Energy, which is part-owned by Suncor Energy Inc, for C$378 million ($345 million).
** Standards Australia, the not-for-profit industry group which spun off SAI Global Ltd a decade ago, may seek to buy back the publishing unit of the Sydney-listed compliance firm, a spokesman at told Reuters.
** UBM Plc, a British communications and events company, confirmed that it was in talks to acquire Advanstar, a privately held U.S. trade show organiser. Reuters reported on Tuesday that UBM was in advanced talks to acquire Advanstar for around $900 million.
** CyActive, an Israeli provider of cyber security technology, said it has received a strategic investment from the venture capital unit of Germany's Siemens. Financial details were not disclosed.
** Hyundai Motor Group will pay a record $10 billion for the site of its new headquarters in Seoul's high-end Gangnam district, out-bidding Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and sparking investor concerns that it is wasting cash on a trophy property.
** Discovery Communications Inc is seeking a controlling interest in The Hub, reducing partner and toymaker Hasbro Inc's share of the children's cable TV network, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
** BZ WBK, Poland's third largest lender in terms of assets, said Aviva will buy 17 percent of the shares in two joint ventures it has with the bank in the insurance sector.
** Visa Inc said it was exploring options for its 5.5 percent stake in Monitise Plc, a British mobile banking technology company.
** Tauron Polska Energia is considering buying a mine from ailing state-run coal group Kompania Weglowa, although no talks are being conducted at the moment, Chief Executive Dariusz Lubera said.
** The Italian government will privatise the state-owned postal service early in 2015, a Treasury official said, missing an initial deadline of carrying out the sale by the end of this year.
** The new chief executive of Portugal's Novo Banco - the successor to Banco Espirito Santo after a state rescue - said his management team will work on adding new clients, growing deposits and loans rather than just preparing the bank's sale.
** The head of Julius Baer, a rumoured takeover target for larger rival Credit Suisse, said any purchase of the Swiss private bank was unlikely for the foreseeable future, Bloomberg News reported. ($1 = 0.7760 euro) ($1 = A$1.1147) ($1 = C$1.10) (Compiled by Anet Josline Pinto and Anya George Tharakan in Bangalore; Editing by Savio D'Souza)