The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Tuesday:
** Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners has ended a 1 billion pound ($1.5 billion) attempt to buy online betting exchange Betfair after the two companies failed to agree on price and strategy.
** Sony Corp, responding to a shareholder's call for it to spin off its entertainment operations, said the businesses were important to its growth strategy and "are not for sale."
** Chinese state-controlled power equipment maker XD Group is in early talks to buy General Electric Co's joint venture with Mexico's Xignux SA for up to $1 billion, a person familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
** Belgian cancer diagnosis and therapy company Ion Beam Applications said it had provisionally agreed the sale of its drug discovery arm to a European private equity firm for 25 million euros ($32.5 million).
** Shares in Severn Trent surged to all-time highs after the British water company confirmed it had received a takeover approach from a consortium including Borealis Infrastructure and the Kuwait Investment Office.
** Dish Network Corp said on Tuesday it will sell $2.5 billion in debt to help fund a $25 billion bid for Sprint Nextel Corp, and that it believes it has answered all questions posed by a special committee of Sprint's board.
** U.S. hedge fund Third Point has agreed to buy a stake in Energean Oil & Gas, a small Greek oil producer, for $60 million, the two firms said in a statement on Tuesday.
_0">** Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding said its board of directors had recommended rejecting an offer by a subsidiary of Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's Altimo to buy out the mobile company for $0.70 per share.
_1"> _2">** French media-and-telecoms conglomerate Vivendi SA confirmed it would keep developing Brazilian unit GVT and said it is reviewing options for listed video-game subsidiary Activision Blizzard.
_3">** State-rescued German bank Hypo Real Estate is preparing to sell its public finance specialist Depfa, with Citi appointed to organize the sale, two people familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.
_4"> _5">** Norway's government supports state-controlled fish farmer Cermaq's plan to buy Peruvian fish feed peer Copeinca and thereby effectively kills a potential deal with bigger rival Marine Harvest, Cermaq said on Tuesday.
_6"> _7">** Europe's largest bank HSBC said it may sell its private banking business in Monaco as part of an ongoing strategic review.
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