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Mergers & Acquisitions - 1997
BP Chemicals is acquiring Styrenix Kunststoffe, the styrene plastics business, from Veba of Germany for about £120m, which will give it extra production capacity to help it expand globally.
31-Dec-1997
GKN is to acquire a 95% stake in Armstong Wheel & Rim Manufacturing, the US maker of parts for off-road vehicles, for £31m, and will buy the remaining 5% within 12 months.
31-Dec-1997
Harrisons & Crosfield has acquired Rheox, the US maker of additives for industrial coatings, for £280m, thereby completing its transformation into a chemicals company.
31-Dec-1997
Micro Focus is acquiring XDB Systems, the US provider of tools for the DB2 database standard, for about £8m.
29-Dec-1997
Firth Rixson, the specialist engineer, is acquiring Barworth Flockton and Moss & Gamble Brothers from Barworth for £12m.
29-Dec-1997
Critchley Group, the maker of cable components, is acquiring Groupe Riondet-Malbert of France for £7.8m.
29-Dec-1997
Reed Elsevier is to acquire Editions Prat, the French legal publisher, for undisclosed terms.
27-Dec-1997
Starwood Lodging Trust, the US hotels group, has bought Turnberry Hotel Golf Courses and Spa in Scotland from Nitto Kogyo for £32m.
27-Dec-1997
Lloyds TSB is selling International Factors, the US-based provider of factoring and invoice discounting services, to BNY Financial Corp and expects to make a £160m profit on the deal.
24-Dec-1997
Wilshaw, the metals and building materials company, is planning to sell its distribution division to a new company called Tractiv Holdings for £22m.
24-Dec-1997
First Call, the ticketing agency, has accepted a £7.3m takeover offer from KanDo, a subsidiary of Loyalty Management Holdings.
24-Dec-1997
Sears has sold 44 Shoe City outlets to Brantano of Belgium for an initial £6m, but 39 other shops are being closed.
24-Dec-1997
European Leisure has sold Maygay, the gaming machine manufacturer, back to its original owner for £16.5m.
24-Dec-1997
ICI has sold its International Explosives operations in Canada, Latin America and Europe, as well as its distribution businesses in the US, to Orica for £230m, which completes its exit from explosives.
24-Dec-1997
ABN Amro of the Netherlands is acquiring the Australian and New Zealand equity investment banking operations of BZW from Barclays Bank for about £71m.
23-Dec-1997
TI Group is acquiring Sealol, the mechanical seals business, from EG&G of the US for £61m, and will sell its Belfab metal bellows operation to EG&G for $45m.
23-Dec-1997
Betterware, the door-to-door shopping company, has accepted a £117m takeover offer from NatWest Equity Partners which will take the company private.
23-Dec-1997
Skillsgroup is selling Nordic Datadistribution, its Swedish PC distributor, to Atle for £10m, in order to focus on its IT training consultancy.
23-Dec-1997
Johnston Press is acquiring Home Counties Newspapers, the family-controlled publisher of the Hampstead and Highgate Express, for £52m.
23-Dec-1997
Southern Newspapers has acquired Bailey Newspaper Group, the Gloucestershire-based regional newspaper publisher, for £35m.
23-Dec-1997
Austin Reed is to acquire Country Casuals, the troubled clothing retailer, for £26m.
23-Dec-1997
Credit Commercial de France is acquiring a 50% stake in Charterhouse, the UK merchant bank, from BHF of Germany for undisclosed terms, which will give it complete control.
23-Dec-1997
Bupa has acquired Care First, the nursing homes operator, in a deal that values the company at £273m and will help Bupa build up a national network of healthcare services.
23-Dec-1997
BNFL, the fuel reprocessor, and Magnox Electric, the nuclear power station operator, have merged to complete the restructuring of the UK nuclear industry, and about 10% of their combined workforce of 16,000 could be lost.
23-Dec-1997
Stagecoach has acquired South Yorkshire Supertram, which operates around Sheffield, for £1.15m.
22-Dec-1997
Rolls-Royce has sold International Combustion, its boiler manufacturing business, to ABB for a sum thought to be less than £10m, but will retain the Derby factory to make components for ABB and other companies.
20-Dec-1997
Thomson has acquired Fritidsresor, the Swedish tour operator, for $425m as part of its strategy to build an international business.
20-Dec-1997
Manders, the printing inks company, has agreed to a £100m acquisition by Flint Ink of the US, as it has been unable to compete with its larger international rivals.
20-Dec-1997
BTP is selling its adhesives and textile coatings business to Total of France for £86m, and will use the proceeds to acquire fine chemicals companies.
20-Dec-1997
ICI is to sell its methylamines business to Air Products of the US for £67m.
20-Dec-1997
Hambros has agreed the sale of its banking business to Societe Generale of France for £300m, and the rest of its business will be wound down.
20-Dec-1997
Hambros has sold its corporate loan business to Generale de Banque of Belgium for a sum thought to be less than £10m.
19-Dec-1997
National Express has bought Group Bronckaers, the Belgian bus operator with 104 vehicles, for up to £4.2m.
19-Dec-1997
Doncasters, the Derby-based engineering company, has launched a £194m recommended takeover bid for Triplex Lloyd, the castings company, and intends to sell Triplex's automotive division.
19-Dec-1997
Lonsdale Holdings has acquired Belgo, the London restaurant group, for £9.8m, and will change its name to Belgo Group.
18-Dec-1997
Lonrho has sold Dutton-Forshaw, the franchised vehicle dealership, to a management team named Tanel for £113m.
18-Dec-1997
Hutchison Ports (Europe) is acquiring Thamesport on the Isle of Grain from Rutland Trust for £112m, and the port could now be expanded to handle 1.5m containers a year.
18-Dec-1997
Bowthorpe has acquired Western Pacific Data Systems, the Californian logistics software designer, for up to £38m.
18-Dec-1997
Cenargo Fast Ferries has launched a £14.9m bid to acquire Scruttons, the shipping, engineering and security services company.
18-Dec-1997
United Industries is to acquire Neepsend, the engineering company, for £13.8m.
17-Dec-1997
Peter Black Holdings has acquired Ferrosan UK, the diet supplements company, from its Danish parent for £35m.
17-Dec-1997
Bass is selling 1,190 leased pubs and 238 managed pubs to a management buy-in team for £564m, and now has at least £1.5bn to spend on acquisitions.
17-Dec-1997
John Crane Marine, the TI subsidiary, is acquiring the marine seal business of EG&G of the US for £2.5m.
17-Dec-1997
Andrews Sykes, the heating and pumps company, has acquired RCR of Buckinghamshire for £3.4m.
17-Dec-1997
Alchemy Partners, the venture capital company, is to acquire Wellman, the specialist engineer, for £73m in order to take the company private and enable it to be restructured away from the demands of the public market.
16-Dec-1997
Charles Taylor is to acquire Richards Hogg, the marine average adjuster and claims consultant, for up to £11m.
16-Dec-1997
Bass has sold its Gala bingo chain to a management buy-in for £279m, and the plan is to float the business within five years.
16-Dec-1997
Sears has sold its Shoe Express retailing chain for £8.3m to a former chairman of Amber Day who plans to retain 185 of the shops and close the remaining 136.
16-Dec-1997
Waste Recycling has acquired East Waste, the Cambridgeshire County Council waste disposal company, for £11.9m.
15-Dec-1997
South West Water is acquiring Terry Adams, the landfill waste disposal company, for up to £105m, which is expected to make the utility the largest landfill operator in the UK.
13-Dec-1997
Arlen is acquiring Plasmec, the electrical and electronic components manufacturer, for £11m.
12-Dec-1997
Morgan Crucible is acquiring four bolt-on acquisitions for £32m, including a German manufacturer of engineered ceramics, a Texas-based supplier of piston rings, an Italian ceramics distributor, and a 51% stake in a refractories company in Argentina.
12-Dec-1997
Caterpillar of the US is to acquire the Perkins diesel engine business from LucasVarity for £800m, which will enable LucasVarity to make acquisitions in the aerospace and automotive sectors.
12-Dec-1997
S Daniels is acquiring New Covent Garden Soup Company, the supplier of fresh soups to supermarkets, for about £24m.
12-Dec-1997
Old Mutual of South Africa is to acquire Capel Cure Myers Capital Management, the UK private client stockbroker, for undisclosed terms.
11-Dec-1997
TI Group is to sell its 50% stake in Messier-Dowty, the landing gear business, to Snecma, its joint venture partner, for £207m.
11-Dec-1997
Arriva, previously known as Cowie, is acquiring London Coaches, the operator of the Original London Sightseeing Tour, from Pullmans for £5m.
10-Dec-1997
CB Commercial Real Estate Services of the US is to acquire the international operation of the Richard Ellis estate agency, while the UK side of the business is being merged with Insignia.
10-Dec-1997
Norwich Union has acquired Premium Search, the telephone-based motor and household insurance broker, for £17m.
09-Dec-1997
Ginger Productions is acquiring Virgin Radio for £85m, thereby preventing Capital Radio from succeeding with its £87m bid.
09-Dec-1997
Yule Catto is acquiring Holliday Chemical, the drugs and dyes specialist, for £255m.
09-Dec-1997
Tesco is to sell Catteau, its French supermarket chain, to Promodes for £225m, due to slow sales growth and difficulties in obtaining planning permission to open more stores.
08-Dec-1997
Readicut is to sell European Carpets, its carpets manufacturing business, to Interface of the US for £30m, and it is now looking for buyers for its UK yarn spinning business and its US carpet business.
06-Dec-1997
Harrisons & Crosfield has sold Edward Baker Petfoods to Ralston Purina Company of the US for £106m, in order to focus on its core speciality chemicals business.
06-Dec-1997
US Industries has acquired Spear & Jackson, the tools manufacturer, from Apax Partners for over £57m.
05-Dec-1997
FI Group is acquiring IIS Infotech, the Indian software house, for £22m.
05-Dec-1997
Great Universal Stores is acquiring Innovations, the mail-order gadgets company, for £20m, which represents a first major move away from agency mail order towards dealing directly with customers.
05-Dec-1997
Racal Electronics is selling its Health & Safety face-masks business to 3M for £43m, as part of a strategy to focus on its core electronics and defence activities.
05-Dec-1997
Full Circle Industries is selling its Selecta bathroom products business for up to £5.6m in order to focus on kitchen and bedroom home improvements.
04-Dec-1997
TI Group is acquiring a 30% stake in Lips United, the Dutch marine propulsion group, for £7m and has an option to buy the remaining 70%.
04-Dec-1997
Morris Ashby, the automotive castings company, is being acquired by Automotive Components Investments of the US for £49m.
04-Dec-1997
Alexon and Electra Fleming are forming a joint venture to acquire Dolcis, the chain of 106 shoe stores, from Sears for £1.6m.
03-Dec-1997
Dawson Holdings is acquiring Johnsons News, the newspaper and magazine wholesaling business, for £32m, giving it about 20% of the market.
03-Dec-1997
Liverpool Victoria is to acquire Landmark's motor and household insurance business from AIG of the US, in a deal worth about £50m.
03-Dec-1997
NatWest has sold most of the equities operations of NatWest Markets for £179m in a deal with Bankers Trust and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, and the remaining operations will be closed.
03-Dec-1997
Ocean Group is acquiring a 67% stake in Intexo, the Dutch logistics company, for undisclosed terms, and is looking to acquire additional companies for up to £50m.
02-Dec-1997
Low & Bonar is selling its European polyethylene film business to British Polythene Industries for £7.7m, and also announced a £13m restructuring of its UK carton and North American plastic sack businesses.
02-Dec-1997
NatWest Equity Partners has acquired Artform, the point-of-sale display company, for £38m.
01-Dec-1997
Kewill Systems is to acquire Exeter Software, the US supplier of warehouse management systems, for an initial £8m.
28-Nov-1997
Cleveland Trust is acquiring March Estates, the industrial property company, for £6.8m in order to help it expand into new developments and joint ventures.
28-Nov-1997
Tecno Holdings has been set up to acquire Era's chain of 26 Tecno camera and camcorder shops for up to £5.9m.
27-Nov-1997
Vardon has sold its bingo division to a management buy-out for £30m, which will allow it to expand its health and fitness operations.
27-Nov-1997
Polypipe has acquired Gabo Systemtechnik, the German maker of plastic plumbing and ducting systems, from Thyssen Polymer for £6m.
26-Nov-1997
Avon Rubber is acquiring Zatec, the US maker of cleaning blades for fax machines and printers, for £7.5m.
26-Nov-1997
Galliford is acquiring Midas Homes, the south-west England housebuilder, for £4.6m.
26-Nov-1997
Redland has agreed terms for a £1.8bn takeover by Lafarge, the French building materials company, having decided that a complete sale would be preferable to selling parts of the business following the decline in the UK stockmarket.
26-Nov-1997
Jardine Lloyd Thompson is acquiring Colburn French & Kneen Holdings, the Lloyds broker that specialises in marine insurance, for £5.25m.
26-Nov-1997
Britton Group, the plastics and packaging company, has agreed to a £198m takeover offer from ACX of the US.
26-Nov-1997
Datrontech is acquiring International Computer Products, the Dutch distributor of components and peripherals, for £7.9m.
25-Nov-1997
Senior Engineering is to acquire Metal Fab Machine Corporation, the US maker of welded metal bellows, for £11m.
25-Nov-1997
David Brown is acquiring Union Pumps Company, the US pumps concern, for £38m.
25-Nov-1997
Alfred McAlpine is selling its Hall & Tawse contracting business to Mansell for £20m, in order to focus on housebuilding, civil engineering and special projects.
24-Nov-1997
ICI is selling its UK fertiliser business, which includes 580 people at Billingham, to Terra Industries of the US for an initial £200m.
21-Nov-1997
Powell Duffryn has sold Eurogas, its liquefied heating fuel subsidiary, to Calor Gas for £13.5m.
21-Nov-1997
Unichem is to merge with Alliance Sante Luxembourg in a £300m deal, creating the second-largest pharmaceuticals wholesaler in Europe.
21-Nov-1997
Concentric has sold the non-satellite part of its Pressed Products subsidiary to European Commercial Pressings of the US for £7m.
20-Nov-1997
Merrill Lynch of the US has bid £3.1bn for Mercury Asset Management, an offer that would create one of the largest fund management groups in the world.
20-Nov-1997
Taylor Nelson AGB is to acquire Sofres, the French market information company, for £119m, in order to improve the market research services offered to multinational companies.
19-Nov-1997
Siebe is selling Wells Electronics, the US maker of semiconductor testing equipment, to PCD for £77m.
19-Nov-1997
Greenway Holdings, the oil recycling company, has acquired Lanstar's hydrocarbons division for £1.2m, in order to increase its feedstock levels.
19-Nov-1997
Emap is acquiring medical magazines and exhibitions from Macmillan Magazines at a cost of £102m.
18-Nov-1997
Cambridge Technology Partners of the US is acquiring Peter Chadwick Holdings, the UK-based IT consultancy, for about £77m.
18-Nov-1997
Sinclair Montrose is acquiring Premiere Group, the healthcare recruitment agency, for £10.7m.
18-Nov-1997
United Biscuits is selling its snacks businesses in Australia and France to PepsiCo, in return for Biscuiterie Nantaise, PepsiCo's French biscuit business, and £241m.
18-Nov-1997
Allied Signal of the US is acquiring Holt Lloyd, the car care products company, for £95m.
17-Nov-1997
M-R Group has acquired PCL Group, the information supplier, for £4.5m.
15-Nov-1997
Ascot has sold Sagar Richards, the automotive gearbox components business, to Valeo of France for £8m.
15-Nov-1997
FKI is selling its automotive division, which makes components for carmakers, to a management team called Trident Automotive for £92.5m.
14-Nov-1997
Barclays is selling its European equities and corporate advisory operations to Credit Suisse First Boston for £100m.
13-Nov-1997
Etam, the womenswear retailer, is to be acquired by Etam Developpement of France for £93m, and the revamp of the 214 stores will continue.
13-Nov-1997
Timothy Benn Publishing, which prints the Post Magazine, is being sold to a management buy-in for £17m.
13-Nov-1997
Ransomes, the engineering company that supplies grass-cutting equipment to golf courses, is being acquired by Textron of the US for £83m, and Textron is planning to expand the Ipswich factory.
11-Nov-1997
FirstBus is to acquire a 51% stake in Bristol International Airport for £40m, and will help fund a £25m terminal that will increase capacity from 1.8m to 3m a year.
11-Nov-1997
The Royal Automobile Club (RAC) is planning to acquire the British School of Motoring for £54m, which would give it access to new members as they pass their driving tests.
08-Nov-1997
Friends Provident, the mutual life assurer, has announced a reverse takeover of Ivory & Sime, the fund manager, in a £132m deal that will result in the creation of a group called Friends Ivory & Sime.
08-Nov-1997
Albert Fisher has sold Roem, its Dutch seafood operation, to a management team for £21m, and will use the proceeds to buy back some of its shares in a capital restructuring.
08-Nov-1997
BTR is to sell its US seals and shielding systems business, its hosing and belting businesses, and a number of small industrial businesses to a management-led venture called Unipoly, in a £515m disposal that will help it focus on engineering.
08-Nov-1997
Motorcycle City, the chain of motorcycle dealers, has been sold to a management buy-out with the support of venture capitalist Electra Fleming for undisclosed terms.
07-Nov-1997
Sanderson Bramall is acquiring Charles Sidney, the Mercedes-Benz distributor, in a £37m deal that will improve its geographical coverage and increase its representation in prestige marques.
06-Nov-1997
Wolseley, the heating and pumping equipment company, has sold Hunterskil Howard, its contract staff placement business, to AccuStaff for £45m.
06-Nov-1997
Lonrho has sold Cramlington Textiles to Woodrow Wilson Investments for a notional price.
06-Nov-1997
Hays has acquired DEI, the document management company, for an initial £17m, in order to expand its range of back-office support services.
05-Nov-1997
Cookson has sold Anzon, its fire-retardant additives business, to Great Lakes Chemical Corp of the US for £54m.
05-Nov-1997
Vickers is to sell its medical businesses, including Airshields, Medelec, TECA and Medical Industrial Equipment, to Hillenbrand of the US for a price expected to be about £75m.
05-Nov-1997
Meyer International is acquiring 22 tool-hire and catering equipment hire branches from Torex for £10m.
05-Nov-1997
Scottish Power has sold Greenhill Enterprises, the landfill and mineral extraction company acquired with Southern Water in 1996, to Haul Waste Group, the South West Water subsidiary, for £10.6m.
05-Nov-1997
Finelist has acquired Wheels Motor Factors, the car parts business, for £6.8m.
04-Nov-1997
Eadie Holdings is selling Ross & Bonnyman, its mechanical handling equipment division, to Ledge 345, a company formed for the purpose, for £8.2m.
31-Oct-1997
British Aerospace and Daimler-Benz are linking up to acquire Siemens' defence operations for about £420m, a move which will give BAe a role in the Archer consortium that is developing a new communications system for the armed forces.
31-Oct-1997
Visual Action, the corporate presentations company, is being acquired by Carabiner of the US.
30-Oct-1997
Pentland is selling Holmes, its US electrical goods business, to Berkshire Partners for about £104m, and will use the proceeds to invest in branded sportswear and leisurewear.
30-Oct-1997
Vacu-Blast, the air-blasting machinery concern, has been resold to US Filter for £8m by Kleinwort Benson Development Capital.
27-Oct-1997
Broomco, the subsidiary of International Mezzanine Investment, has acquired Graystone's engineering division for £18m.
25-Oct-1997
Cadbury Schweppes is to acquire La Pie Qui Chante, the French sugar sweets maker, from Danone for undisclosed terms, a move which will make it the third largest confectionery company in France.
24-Oct-1997
Gardner Merchant Services has acquired Lawson Beaumont, the events catering company, from Break for the Border for £2.5m.
24-Oct-1997
Photobition is acquiring Novo, the distributor of films to airlines and studios, for £28m with the intention of converting the films into a digital format.
23-Oct-1997
Protean, the water filtering equipment company, is to be acquired by Culligan Water Technologies of the US for £105m.
23-Oct-1997
Morgan Crucible has acquired four companies for a total £10m - MH Detrick, the high temperature insulating products company, ETS Schaefer, Reineke's fine graphite operation, and Ringsdorff Carbon's electrical carbon business.
23-Oct-1997
Baker Tilly is to merge with Casson Beckman to create the 13th largest accountancy firm in the UK.
23-Oct-1997
Beauford has acquired Allied Insulators, the electrical insulator, from Fairey Group for an initial £8m, as Fairey continues to refocus its activities in the ceramics sector.
22-Oct-1997
Budgens has acquired the 7-Eleven convenience store chain from Jardine Matheson for £5.8m.
22-Oct-1997
General Accident has acquired Canadian General Insurance Group for £270m, increasing its share of the Canadian market from under 7% to 10%.
21-Oct-1997
NatWest Group has sold NatWest Sellier Patrimoine and NatWest Sellier Gestion, the French investment management businesses, to Banque Bruxelles Lambert France for undisclosed terms.
21-Oct-1997
Unilever has acquired Kibon, the largest ice cream maker in Brazil, from Philip Morris for £570m, and will use the business as its ice cream "innovation centre" in Latin America.
21-Oct-1997
Avebury Inns, a new company with financial backing from Daiwa Europe, is planning to acquire 147 pubs from Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries for £16.4m, and hopes to follow this up with the purchase of more pub groups.
21-Oct-1997
MWB Leisure Fund has bought the Bentley Bridge Leisure Park in Wolverhampton for £17.3m, and is now said to be the UK's largest owner of leisure parks.
21-Oct-1997
KPMG and Ernst & Young are planning a merger that will create the largest accountancy firm in the world, although the move could prompt regulators to take an even closer look at the merger between Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse.
18-Oct-1997
Standard & Poor's of the US is acquiring Micropal, the UK mutual funds data provider, for undisclosed terms, which will help it provide a one-stop solution to the fund industry.
17-Oct-1997
Crystal Holidays, the holiday operator, has been acquired by a management team backed by BZW Private Equity, in a £150m deal.
17-Oct-1997
Cirqual is acquiring BWMP, the electronics company that makes a complex multilayer printed circuit board, for up to £36.4m.
17-Oct-1997
BTR is to acquire Exide Electronics, the US supplier of uninterruptible power-supply systems, for £360m.
17-Oct-1997
Guinness and Grand Metropolitan have received European Commission approval for their planned £24bn merger, on the condition that they sell their Dewar's and Ainslie's whisky brands in Europe and make some changes to their distribution agreements.
16-Oct-1997
Sun Life & Provincial is to sell its 83% stake in New Ireland, the Irish life assurance concern, to the Bank of Ireland for £190m.
15-Oct-1997
Delta's plumbing products division has acquired National Vulcan Safety Products from Royal & Sun Alliance for £4.5m.
15-Oct-1997
Carbo has sold the foundry business of its Bryan Donkin Engineering subsidiary to a private investor group for £2m, in order to focus on industrial abrasives.
14-Oct-1997
Tesco has acquired Sanders Supermarkets, the operator of two supermarkets in Somerset, for £4.9m.
14-Oct-1997
Gresham Trust has acquired Penny & Giles Instrumentation, the paperless process chart recorders business, from Bowthorpe for £4.75m.
14-Oct-1997
Reed Elsevier is planning a £17.5bn merger with Wolters Kluwer of Amsterdam, creating the world's largest professional and scientific publisher with combined sales of about £5bn.
14-Oct-1997
Zurich Group of Switzerland is planning to acquire BAT Industries' financial services companies, including Eagle Star and Allied Dunbar, which are valued at almost £10bn.
13-Oct-1997
Meyer International is acquiring Harcros, the builders' merchant, from Harrisons & Crosfield for over £300m, making it the largest builders' merchant in the UK.
13-Oct-1997
Jardine International Motor of Hong Kong is to acquire Appleyard Group for £55m, creating the largest motor dealer in the UK.
11-Oct-1997
Brent Walker is selling the William Hill betting shop chain to Nomura of Japan for £700m, and will now put itself into liquidation as William Hill was its last big asset.
11-Oct-1997
Sixt of Germany is to acquire European Car Rental of the UK, and will expand the business from eight to 50 offices as it launches a major assault on the UK market.
10-Oct-1997
British Airways is to sell its Heathrow in-flight catering operation to Gate Gourmet, part of the Swissair group, for £65m.
09-Oct-1997
Johnston Press has acquired North Derbyshire Newspapers for undisclosed terms.
09-Oct-1997
Plettac of Germany is acquiring a majority stake in NSG Services, the UK scaffolding company, for undisclosed terms, and will use the acquisition as a springboard to introduce its prefabricated systems into the UK.
09-Oct-1997
IMI has acquired Herion-Werke, the German pneumatic controls company, for £38m, and hopes to benefit from selling its other products to Herion's customers.
09-Oct-1997
H&C Furnishings has launched a £48m agreed offer for Kingsbury, giving it an additional 79 furniture shops.
09-Oct-1997
RMC has acquired BDC Concrete Products, the maker of concrete paving stones, from British Dredging for £2.9m.
08-Oct-1997
Hall Engineering is selling Improved Marking & Label Company, the maker of labels and name plates, to a new company called Inhoco 648 for £3m.
08-Oct-1997
Rentokil Initial has sold United Transport Tankers of the Netherlands to Den Hartogh for £4m.
08-Oct-1997
Milk Marque has acquired Aeron Valley Cheese, the south Wales cheese producer, for under £10m, but the move has been described as an "abuse of monopoly power" by the Dairy Industry Federation.
08-Oct-1997
Concentric has acquired Truflo Air Movement, the impeller maker, from Charles Baynes for £9.3m.
08-Oct-1997
Kier Group has acquired FM Contract Services, the building maintenance company, for an initial £4.5m.
08-Oct-1997
Bandt, the scaffolding company, has acquired Fincham Industrial Services for £2.6m.
08-Oct-1997
Hambros has acquired Blue Green, the French-based golf course owner, through its HEV venture capital operation for £13.6m.
07-Oct-1997
IAWS, the Irish flour and feeds concern, has acquired Cuisine de France, the specialist breads manufacturer that serves retailers in the UK and Ireland, for £46m.
07-Oct-1997
Deltron Electronics is acquiring Freber Electronik Leasing, the Swedish electronic components distributor, for £4.3m.
06-Oct-1997
Holt Lloyd has acquired the Simoniz car care products business from Burmah Castrol for £7m.
04-Oct-1997
Aurora Group has acquired Cromdane, the steel bar supplier, from Carclo Engineering for £4.4m.
04-Oct-1997
L Gardner has acquired Avon Transmission Services from Ascot Holdings for £2m.
04-Oct-1997
Tomkins has acquired Golden West Foods, the producer of hamburger buns, syrups and ketchup, for £70m.
04-Oct-1997
Maybridge Chemical Company of Cornwall is being acquired by a management team backed by 3i in a £20m deal.
03-Oct-1997
Avesco is acquiring 94% of Jongenelen Holdings, the Dutch giant screen rental company, for up to £2.3m.
03-Oct-1997
Jacobs Holdings has acquired Tiptoe, the car transportation company, for £2.7m.
03-Oct-1997
McLeod Russel is acquiring Infiltro, the Spanish air filtration company, for up to £2.4m.
03-Oct-1997
GMBM, the recruitment advertising agency, has been acquired by a management team from Osprey Communications for about £1m.
03-Oct-1997
NatWest Equity Partners has acquired Starpoint, the supplier of amusement machine parts, from Bowthorpe for £18.5m.
02-Oct-1997
Pearson has acquired All American, the US TV production company, for £233m, and now claims that its Pearson TV subsidiary is the largest international producer of entertainment and serial drama.
02-Oct-1997
Airtours is acquiring Sun International, the Belgian package holiday company which owns the Cresta Travel and Bridge Travel brands in the UK, for £70m.
02-Oct-1997
Quicks is acquiring Caverdale's 24 car dealerships for £45m, giving it its first Volvo, Jaguar and Lotus franchises and increasing its presence in the south and the Midlands.
02-Oct-1997
Ascot has sold Presto Engineers Cutting Tools to Kennametal of the US for £15m, and will use the proceeds to cut borrowings.
02-Oct-1997
Acatos & Hutcheson has acquired Leon Frenkel, the edible oil bottler, for £8m.
01-Oct-1997
Hillsdown is selling seven food products and packaging businesses to Cinven, the venture capital concern, for £53.6m, following its decision to exit from red meat and focus on poultry, chilled and ambient foods.
01-Oct-1997
Compel, the computer services company, is acquiring Abtex Systems for up to £4.5m.
01-Oct-1997
Cordiant, the advertising group, has announced plans for a demerger, which will result in two separate companies - Saatchi & Saatchi and Cordiant Communications Group, which will own the Bates agency.
01-Oct-1997
Soccer Investments is to acquire Leicester City football club for £24m, and will change its name to Leicester City.
30-Sep-1997
Hogg Robinson has sold its transport division to management for about £16m.
30-Sep-1997
Semple Cochrane is acquiring two Scottish marine engineering companies - Garvel Clyde for £1.9m and Forth Estuary Engineering for £2.5m.
30-Sep-1997
Canada Life is acquiring the UK insurance operations of Metropolitan Life for about £175m, making it one of the top 20 life and pensions companies in the UK.
30-Sep-1997
Books etc, the book retailer, is to be acquired by Borders Group of the US for about £40m, a move which will enable it to continue with plans to set up a chain of superstores.
29-Sep-1997
BG is to sell Pipeline Integrity International, its pipeline maintenance business, to Mercury Asset Management for undisclosed terms.
27-Sep-1997
Shaker, a subsidiary of the ETI telecoms group, is acquiring Interoute Telecommunications, the telecoms operator, for about £25m.
27-Sep-1997
Benfield is acquiring Greig Fester, the rival re-insurance company, for £120m.
26-Sep-1997
Glynwed International has sold its foundry business, which makes cast iron pipes, to Saint Gobain of France for £37m.
26-Sep-1997
Alvis is acquiring Hagglunds Vehicle, the Swedish armoured vehicle maker, from Incentive for £75m.
26-Sep-1997
Charles Baynes is acquiring the Univalve distribution business from Tomkins for £38m, as part of a strategy to focus on distribution and sell its aerospace and truck engine fan manufacturing operations.
26-Sep-1997
Shell Oil is acquiring Tejas Gas, the gas pipeline, processing and storage company that operates in Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana, for £900m.
25-Sep-1997
Siebe has bought Appliance Control Operations, the French-based controls and automation products company, from Eaton Corporation for £193m.
24-Sep-1997
GE Capital is acquiring Credit Lyonnais's 54% stake in Woodchester, the Irish leasing company, in a deal that values Woodchester at £540m.
24-Sep-1997
Powerscreen has acquired Moffett Engineering, the Irish mobile fork lift trucks company, for £21m.
24-Sep-1997
Metsin, a new company set up by Alchemy Partners, is planning to acquire Instem, the electronics and information systems company, for about £9.8m.
24-Sep-1997
Securicor is to sell the consumer and small business subscriber bases of Securicor Cellular Services to Cellnet, in which it has a 40% stake, for £38m, and has also announced the sale of Securicor 3net to Teltrend of the US for £9m.
24-Sep-1997
ICI has sold ICI Forest Products, the Canadian maker of chemical products for the pulp and paper industry, to Pioneer Companies of the US for £150m, as part of its strategy to dispose of its low-margin bulk chemicals operations.
23-Sep-1997
Granada has sold its computer services business, Granada Computer Services, to a management buy-out for £89m.
23-Sep-1997
London & Overseas Freighters, the tanker group based in Bermuda and listed in London, is preparing to merge with Frontline, the Norwegian shipping company.
23-Sep-1997
Westminster Healthcare is acquiring Libra Health Care for £22.8m, and is selling Libra's New Hall Hospital, which specialises in plastic surgery, to Community Hospitals for £8m.
23-Sep-1997
Blue Circle Industries has sold Ockley Brick to Chelwood Brick for £14.4m in order to focus more on its core cement business.
23-Sep-1997
Rentokil Initial has acquired two security companies, Trojan Security and Sigma, for £13.2m.
23-Sep-1997
Nomura, the Japanese investment bank, is acquiring Inntrepreneur Pub Company, the joint venture between Grand Metropolitan and Foster's, and the Spring Inns chain, for £1.2bn.
22-Sep-1997
Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse are planning a merger which would create the largest accountancy firm in the world, but the move is likely to face an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading.
19-Sep-1997
Premier Asset Management is acquiring Fleethope and Fleetlynx, the fund management operations, from Fraser Smith for £2.8m.
18-Sep-1997
CRH of Ireland is acquiring CPM, the US producer of aggregates, concrete and asphalt, for £59m, and says it will continue to look for more bolt-on acquisitions in the US building materials sector.
18-Sep-1997
Munich Re has acquired Apollo Underwriting, the Lloyd's managing agency that specialises in marine insurance, for about £3m.
17-Sep-1997
Virgin Group has bought out most of its joint venture partners to create a new Virgin Entertainment Group, and now plans to develop its music megastores in the US and open 15 new UK cinemas over the next two years.
17-Sep-1997
International Maritime Group has acquired Stephenson Clarke Shipping, the Tyneside ship-owner, for £47m, and plans to develop into the largest integrated maritime transport group in Europe.
17-Sep-1997
T&S Stores has launched a £42.8m recommended cash offer for M&W, the chain of 179 convenience stores.
16-Sep-1997
BBA Group is selling its Haefely Trench high voltage power transmission products business to a management team supported by CVC Capital Partners for £164m.
16-Sep-1997
Cypher Group has been created to acquire Library Services (UK) from Blackwell and Morley Books and Greenhead Books from Johnston Press, for a total consideration of £7.5m, making it the leading supplier of library books.
16-Sep-1997
Amec has acquired Babcock International's process division excluding Water Engineering and BKW Eagleton for a nominal £1, and Babcock will take an exceptional charge of £18.6m.
16-Sep-1997
GE Capital has acquired Stalwart Group, the specialist insurance company, for £43m.
15-Sep-1997
Morland has acquired Ruddles, the real ale brewery, from Grolsch for £8.4m.
13-Sep-1997
John Lusty is to acquire Wunderbar, the luxury snacks company, funded by the £2.3m raised from a rights issue.
13-Sep-1997
4Front has acquired Firstpoint, the computer maintenance business, from Stratagem for an initial £2.5m.
13-Sep-1997
Care UK, the provider of nursing home services, has acquired Care Solutions and Homebridge for £4m.
12-Sep-1997
WPP is to acquire Buchanan Communications, the public relations company, for up to £15m.
12-Sep-1997
Waste Recycling Group is buying Finstop, the Yorkshire-based landfill and quarrying company that trades as Dorrington, for £14.5m.
12-Sep-1997
Gartland Whalley and Barker has acquired General Clutch Corporate of the US and its RollEase trading subsidiary for £18m.
12-Sep-1997
Bristol United Press has acquired the Wessex regional newspapers business, which includes 11 West Country newspapers, from Newsquest for £35m.
11-Sep-1997
Boots is acquiring Hermal Kurt Herrmann, the German skincare company, from Merck for £174m, and will use Hermal's salesforce to launch its Lutsia range of anti-ageing and anti-acne products into Germany.
11-Sep-1997
Car Group is acquiring Empress Car Co (Abertillery) for £20m, thus doubling its car sales to over 600,000 per year.
10-Sep-1997
AEA Technology is acquiring ERG Environmental Resource Group, the environmental engineering business, from Southern Water for £6m.
09-Sep-1997
British Vita, the foams and plastics company, is acquiring Crest Foam Industries of the US and Silvergate Plastics, the UK colour compounding company, for a total of £15m.
09-Sep-1997
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette of the US is acquiring London Global Securities, the securities lending concern, for undisclosed terms, as part of its ongoing international expansion strategy.
08-Sep-1997
Misys is to acquire Medic Computer Systems, the US medical software company, for £566m, funded partly by a £321m rights issue.
06-Sep-1997
MEPC is acquiring PSIT, the Surrey-based property company, for £247m, following shareholder pressure to improve performance.
06-Sep-1997
Lloyds TSB has sold Business Technology Finance, the leasing finance company, to Newcourt Credit of Canada for £235m, in order to focus on its core retail banking business.
06-Sep-1997
Pointfield is acquiring the Wharfedale loudspeakers business and the Quad hi-fi business from Verity for £4.8m, and Verity will take a 40% stake in Pointfield.
06-Sep-1997
VFG has bought GP Film Services, the broadcast equipment rental concern, for £1.4m.
06-Sep-1997
BTR has sold Serck Heat Transfer, the Birmingham-based heat transfer equipment business, to NatWest Ventures for £31.5m.
05-Sep-1997
Cattles is acquiring Lewis, the debt collection agency, for £7.7m.
05-Sep-1997
Capital Corporation has acquired the Cromwell Mint casino in South Kensington for £25m, and will take the business upmarket.
04-Sep-1997
Christian Salvesen has announced plans to demerge its Aggreko equipment hire business, which will be valued at about £390m, leaving Christian Salvesen to focus on logistics and food service.
03-Sep-1997
Bank of Scotland has increased its stake in EFT, the Scottish leasing company, from 11.6% to 92% and plans to integrate the business into its British Linen Leasing subsidiary.
03-Sep-1997
Cobham is acquiring the aerospace and marine division of ML Holdings for £35m, allowing ML to focus on the distribution of electrical and electronic components.
03-Sep-1997
Goode Durrant has acquired Transport Development Group's vehicle rentals business for £28.2m, taking it into Scotland and the south of England for the first time.
03-Sep-1997
Scottish Telecom, the Scottish Power communications business, is to combine its mobile services operation with the Scottish division of Martin Dawes Telecommunications enabling it to offer integrated fixed and mobile services and giving it access to Martin Dawes' advanced billing system.
02-Sep-1997
Laird Group has acquired Mimtec Electronics, the provider of assembly services to the Scottish computer industry, for £21m.
02-Sep-1997
GrandOptical Photoservice of France is to acquire Vision Express, the chain of 200 opticians, for about £200m.
02-Sep-1997
Yorkshire Group is selling its Australasian inks and pigments business to Huls America for £23m, and its UK pigments dispersions business to Holliday Chemical for £1.8m, and now plans to start looking for acquisitions.
02-Sep-1997
United News & Media is acquiring Telecom Library, the US publisher of computer-telephony magazines, for £80m.
02-Sep-1997
South Western Electricity and Amerada Hess are merging their new gas sales operations in order to provide stronger competition to Centrica in the deregulated domestic gas market.
02-Sep-1997
Wyko Group has acquired ESL Group, the Aberdeen-based supplier of electrical and mechanical services to industry, for £5.5m.
02-Sep-1997
BTP is acquiring the leather and speciality chemicals division of Yorkshire Group for £33m, allowing Yorkshire to focus on its core textile dyes business.
01-Sep-1997
Ashtead Group is to acquire Sheriff Holdings, the plant hire company with 51 depots, for £39m, and cost savings of £2m a year are expected to follow.
30-Aug-1997
Marling Industries, the seat belt webbing company, is being acquired by Autoliv of Sweden for £31m.
30-Aug-1997
Photobition Group is acquiring Scanachrome, the graphics business, for up to £3m in order to expand its product range and geographical coverage.
30-Aug-1997
Boots is selling its AG Stanley home-decorating stores to Alchemy Partners, the venture-capital group, for a nominal sum.
29-Aug-1997
Brown & Jackson has agreed the £6.5m acquisition of WEW, the discount retailer that trades as What Everyone Wants and The Store.
29-Aug-1997
Compagnie Generale des Eaux of France is to acquire Leigh Interests, the UK waste disposal company, for £116m.
29-Aug-1997
Rushmere Wynne, the financial publisher, is acquiring Coutts Consulting's training division for £6.5m, which includes the Eynsham Hall and Chewton Place training companies.
28-Aug-1997
Tibbett & Britten has bought Neptune Freight, the Irish logistics company with sales of about £3m.
28-Aug-1997
Lloyds TSB has sold its 90% stake in Schroder Munchmeyer Hengst, the German bank, to Union Bank of Switzerland for £100m, as SMH's focus on investment banking does not fit Lloyds' focus on retail banking.
27-Aug-1997
Shippam, the fish paste company, has been sold to a management team backed by NatWest Ventures for about £15m, and now plans to launch new fillings, canned chicken and ready meals.
25-Aug-1997
Ennstone has launched an agreed offer to acquire Bruntcliffe Aggregates, the quarrying company, for £26m.
23-Aug-1997
BICC is to merge its German cables business with those of NKF of the Netherlands, forming a new venture called Kaiser Kwo Kabel, in order to make cost savings and increase competitiveness in an overcrowded market.
22-Aug-1997
Hays is expanding its European logistics business with the acquisition of FDS in France and van der Heijden in the Benelux from Mayne Nickless for £72m.
21-Aug-1997
Trinity International is acquiring Post Publications, the Dublin-based publisher of the Sunday Business Post, for £4.9m.
20-Aug-1997
Brown & Jackson is planning to buy Your More Store, the chain of 127 discount stores, for £7.6m.
20-Aug-1997
Gardner Merchant Sodexho has acquired KS Building Services and Genesis Facilities Management from KS Group for undisclosed terms.
19-Aug-1997
Burmah Castrol has acquired SMC Group, the coatings and resins company, from Chemetall for £23m, and sold Columbia Cement, the adhesives business, to TACC International of the US for $23m.
19-Aug-1997
McCorquodale Confidential Print has been sold by Rexam to a management buy-out for £2.1m, which means that Rexam's programme of disposals is now 75% complete.
19-Aug-1997
Bunzl is to acquire Grocery Supply Systems, the US supplier of disposable supermarket products, from Unisource Worldwide for £54m.
16-Aug-1997
Pearson is to sell its Churchill Livingstone medical publishing operation to Harcourt General of the US for £57m.
16-Aug-1997
Kennedy Construction has sold its cable and pipe-laying business to management for £60m.
15-Aug-1997
Royal Bank of Scotland is to acquire Birmingham Midshires building society for up to £630m, and members of the society could receive payouts averaging £850 when the deal is completed late next year.
14-Aug-1997
Hazlewood Foods has acquired R&B Group, the ready meals business, for about £7.4m.
14-Aug-1997
Republic Industries of the US has made a £95m recommended offer for EuroDollar, the UK car rental company.
12-Aug-1997
Low & Bonar, the packaging company, has acquired Nuway, the flooring business, from BTR for £11m, and plans to make further acquisitions over the next year.
12-Aug-1997
Reed Elsevier has sold its Tigerprint greeting cards business to management for £12.5m, as part of a plan to sell off its Reed Books division.
11-Aug-1997
Gehe is selling the Macarthy drugs manufacturing business of Lloyds Chemists to a management team backed by Cinven, the private equity specialist, for £55.5m.
11-Aug-1997
Flare Group, the industrial ceramics company, is to acquire CH Rathbone & Son for £1.15m and Elmeceram of France for £2.33m.
09-Aug-1997
Danisco of Denmark has made a £36.6m recommended offer to acquire Borthwicks, the food flavourings company.
09-Aug-1997
NBTY, the US vitamin retailer, has bought the Holland & Barrett chain of over 400 health food stores from Gehe for £100m, and is expected to focus the group on own-label products.
09-Aug-1997
Linden is acquiring Amplevine, the Hampshire-based housebuilder, for an initial £6m, funded by a placing and open offer that should raise £4.5m.
08-Aug-1997
Field Group has bought Tudor Labels, the maker of self-adhesive labels, for an initial £5m.
08-Aug-1997
Chrysalis is to acquire Faze FM Radio, which runs Kiss 102 in Manchester and Kiss 105 in Yorkshire, for £17.5m.
07-Aug-1997
BBA is acquiring Becorit Gesellschaft Wilhelm Beckmann, the German maker of railway friction materials, for up to £28m.
06-Aug-1997
BTR has bought Limitorque, the valve actuator concern, for £36.8m.
06-Aug-1997
Willis Corroon is to merge its independent financial adviser business with that of Abbey National, creating the second largest such business in the UK.
06-Aug-1997
Dixon Motors is buying Carnell Motor Group, the car and motorcycle retailer, for £13.4m.
06-Aug-1997
Henlys is selling its motor dealerships to a management buy-out for £56.6m, in order to focus on its growing bus building business.
06-Aug-1997
Smiths Industries is acquiring Graseby, the medical and instrument testing equipment concern, for £136m.
06-Aug-1997
Dage, the electronics company, has been sold to a management buy-in team with support from the Royal Bank of Scotland, for £23m.
05-Aug-1997
Dairy Crest has bought Anglia Dairies from Anglia Regional Co-operative Society for £4.6m.
05-Aug-1997
Shire Pharmaceuticals is acquiring Richwood Pharmaceuticals of Kentucky, the maker of treatments for disorders of the central nervous system, for up to £113m.
05-Aug-1997
Dana Petroleum has made an agreed £54m bid for Seafield Resources, the oil exploration and production company with interests in the UK and west Africa.
01-Aug-1997
Hibernia Foods of Dublin has acquired Majestic Food Group, the UK frozen desserts company that trades as Sweet 'n Savoury Frozen Foods.
01-Aug-1997
Aberdeen Asset Management has acquired Prolific, the fund manager, from Scottish Provident for £61m, in a deal that will give Scottish Provident a 41% stake in Aberdeen.
01-Aug-1997
BTR has acquired Microlite's Brazilian industrial batteries operation for £44m, as part of a strategy to boost sales in emerging markets.
01-Aug-1997
Berisford has acquired Sammic, the Spanish manufacturer of food service equipment, for £21.8m.
01-Aug-1997
Logica is acquiring Aldiscon, the network systems company, for £51m, in order to help it "deploy repeatable software solutions in the telecommunications sector".
01-Aug-1997
Croda International is acquiring Stoa, the French supplier of skin cream ingredients, for £40m.
31-Jul-1997
GE Capital of the US is to acquire Central Transport Rental Group for £118m, creating the largest trailer rental group in Europe.
30-Jul-1997
DT Industries of the US is acquiring Lucas Assembly and Test System from LucasVarity for £30m, as part of LucasVarity's programme to dispose of 13 non-core businesses.
30-Jul-1997
Sims Food is selling its retail red meat business to Dawn of Ireland for £12.1m, incurring a £31m loss on disposal, in order to focus on its expanding fast food business.
29-Jul-1997
Millennium Chemicals has agreed a joint venture with Lyondell Petrochemical of the US which will create a £3bn chemicals company, in order to make savings of $150m a year by eliminating duplicate overheads.
29-Jul-1997
Shorco Group Holdings, the supplier of steel storage cabins and health and safety equipment to the construction industry, is to undergo a reverse takeover by Peterhouse Group and Lowfields Technology Group for undisclosed terms, and the new group will be called Peterhouse.
28-Jul-1997
BI Group is acquiring Cortworth, the specialist engineering company, for £93.6m, taking it into the market for control equipment for the utilities sector.
26-Jul-1997
Carlson Companies, the US-based owner of the AT Mays travel agents chain, is to acquire Inspirations, the UK package holiday group, for £42m, and has ambitious plans for further growth and acquisitions in the UK.
25-Jul-1997
Avimo Group of Singapore is acquiring the Optronics division of OMI International, the engineering solutions group, for £8m.
25-Jul-1997
Abbott Mead Vickers, the advertising agency, has acquired Aurelia Public Relations, which specialises in the fashion industry, for up to £4.2m.
25-Jul-1997
Ramco Energy is acquiring JKX, the oil explorer that operates in Georgia and Ukraine, for £54m, and is expected to look for a big oil company to help operate the Ukranian assets.
24-Jul-1997
Eagle Star is to acquire Preferred Direct, the direct motor insurer, from Friends Provident and others for £50m.
23-Jul-1997
Rexam has sold William Clowes, the book printer, to management for £4.4m, as part of its continuing programme of disposals.
23-Jul-1997
Commercial Union has acquired a 55.8% stake in Union Financiere de France, the insurance and investment products company, from Credit Agricole Indosuez for £126m.
23-Jul-1997
Ladbroke is acquiring Colorado Gaming and Entertainment, which runs three casinos in Denver, for £21m, as part of its strategy to build up its US gaming business.
22-Jul-1997
Transport Development Group is acquiring NFC's seven remaining cold stores for £11m in order to expand its temperature-controlled distribution business.
22-Jul-1997
Lucas Aerospace, the LucasVarity division, has bought Smiths Industries' engine controls business for undisclosed terms.
21-Jul-1997
Grampian Pharmaceuticals, the animal healthcare company, is being sold to management by Grampian Holdings for £68m.
19-Jul-1997
Barr & Wallace Arnold Trust has sold its leisure division, which includes a major coach holiday business, to a management buy-out for £42m.
19-Jul-1997
Holliday Chemical has acquired Laboratorios Julian de Mexico, the Mexican chemicals company, from SmithKline Beecham for £4.7m.
18-Jul-1997
Euromoney Publications has acquired Institutional Investor, the US business press company, from Walt Disney for £85m.
17-Jul-1997
Forbes of South Africa is acquiring Nelson Hurst, the UK insurance broker, for £84m.
17-Jul-1997
Precision Engineering International has been set up as a new company to acquire Metal Spinners Group, the Newcastle-based metal processing business, for about £6m.
16-Jul-1997
ICI has sold its titanium dioxide and polyester operations to DuPont of the US for £1.68bn in order to help fund its acquisition of Unilever's speciality chemicals business.
15-Jul-1997
Ellis & Everard has acquired Mozel, the paints and coatings business based in St Louis, for £13m, as part of its strategy to expand its product range and geographical coverage.
15-Jul-1997
Tinsley Robor is acquiring Lenteweg, the Dutch packaging company, for an initial £11.4m.
12-Jul-1997
Scapa is acquiring Sellotape International's industrial tapes division for up to £43.7m.
11-Jul-1997
AEA Technology is acquiring Hyprotech, the Canadian producer of software for the design of oil and gas rigs, for £34m.
11-Jul-1997
Shalibane, the maker of products for the European motor industry, is acquiring BWL Component Engineering and Alpha Tubes for £3.6m.
11-Jul-1997
SIG has launched a £24.6m recommended bid for Roskel, the supplier of suspended ceilings and partitioning.
11-Jul-1997
Weir Group has acquired Entropie, the French desalination and process contracting company, for £6.5m.
10-Jul-1997
United Drug has made a £13.6m recommended offer for Dublin Drug, the wholesaler and distributor of pharmaceutical and healthcare products.
10-Jul-1997
Reflec is acquiring Plast Chemical, the powder coatings company, for up to £2.5m.
10-Jul-1997
Linde of Germany has acquired Wagon Industrial's retail systems division, which makes fittings for large stores, for £33m.
10-Jul-1997
FKI has finalised a deal to acquire Bridon, the wire and rope maker, for £131m.
08-Jul-1997
FirstBus is acquiring Southampton Citybus in a £11m deal, giving it a fleet of 152 buses, 16 of which are gas-powered.
08-Jul-1997
Mirror Group is acquiring Midland Independent Newspapers for £297m, making it a major force in regional newspapers.
05-Jul-1997
Rexam has sold five more businesses for £18m, including Rexam Cartons and Flexible Packaging of the US, which was sold to a management team, and Dispenser, which was sold to Lindal Ventil of Germany.
04-Jul-1997
Barr & Wallace Arnold Trust is selling its leisure division to a management buy-out for £40m.
04-Jul-1997
Siebe is acquiring Carl Froh's tube production line in Germany for £5.2m, and PJ King, the Australian supplier of tubular fluid systems, for £2.8m.
04-Jul-1997
Blagden Industries has acquired Cellobond, the resins business, from BP Chemicals for £13m.
04-Jul-1997
Cinven, the private equity specialist, is acquiring the UK and French healthcare interests of Compagnie Generale des Eaux, including General Healthcare Group of the UK which will be merged with Amicus Healthcare.
03-Jul-1997
Axa of France is to merge its Sun Life & Provincial and Axa Equity & Law subsidiaries, creating the third largest life assurer in the UK.
03-Jul-1997
SIG has acquired Asphaltic Roofing Supplies for £25m, and Distribution International and Branton Industries, both of the US, for £11m.
03-Jul-1997
Eagle Star is acquiring La Suiza, the Spanish life and general insurance company, from Swiss Life for £27m.
03-Jul-1997
GKN Westland Aerospace is acquiring Aerospace Composite Technologies of Luton for £21m.
03-Jul-1997
Bunzl is to acquire AFC, the US plastics extrusion and fibres business, for £108m.
03-Jul-1997
Adare Printing is acquiring the security print division of Kalamazoo Computer for £12m.
03-Jul-1997
Amersham International is to merge with Nycomed of Norway to create Nycomed Amersham, a £1.1bn medical diagnostics group.
02-Jul-1997
London Bridge Software is acquiring Recovery Management System, the US maker of programs to recover consumer debts, for £21m.
02-Jul-1997
Fairey has acquired NDC Systems, the gauging equipment company based in California, for £18.1m.
02-Jul-1997
Bank of Scotland is to acquire EFT Group, the leasing company, for about £90m, and will merge it with its British Linen Leasing subsidiary.
01-Jul-1997
HJ Heinz has acquired John West Foods, the canned fish company, from Unilever.
01-Jul-1997
TransTec has acquired Vector Plastics, the injection mouldings company, for £18m.
01-Jul-1997
United News & Media has made a recommended £262m bid for the remaining 70% of HTV, the Welsh broadcaster, signalling further consolidation in the independent TV sector.
28-Jun-1997
Zurich has acquired Scudder, Stevens & Clark, the US fund management company, in a £1.01bn deal which will reduce its reliance on the cyclical insurance industry.
28-Jun-1997
General Electric Capital of the US is acquiring TLS, the vehicle rental company, for £68m.
28-Jun-1997
CE Heath, the insurance broker, is to undergo a £96m management buy-out.
28-Jun-1997
Fedsure of South Africa is moving into the UK with the acquisitions of Beale Dobie from Hambro Insurance Services for £15m, and Policy Portfolio.
28-Jun-1997
Abbey National is to acquire Cater Allen, the private banking group, for £191m in order to boost its offshore banking and treasury services divisions.
27-Jun-1997
Royal & Sun Alliance has acquired AMEV (General), the Irish non-life operation of Fortis Group, for £12m.
27-Jun-1997
S Daniels is acquiring Globekirk, the tea company, for £2.3m, and Eurogran, the Danish supplier of beverage ingredients, for £5.6m.
27-Jun-1997
Philip Johnstone has been set up as a new company to acquire the Cementone Beaver paints and building chemicals business from Cementone for £9.5m.
26-Jun-1997
Wescol is acquiring Glosford Holdings, the structural steel contractor, for £6.4m.
26-Jun-1997
Reed Elsevier is acquiring the three main divisions of Chilton Business Group, the US trade press publisher, for £270m.
24-Jun-1997
Compass is buying SHRM, the French food service company, for £227m, increasing its market share from 12% to 19% and giving it its first foothold in Canada and Australia.
24-Jun-1997
Global Group's port services division has been sold to management for £4.1m, and will be called Global Shipping Services Group.
24-Jun-1997
WPI Group of the US has acquired Husky Computers Group, the supplier of hand-held computers, from Peek for £10m.
24-Jun-1997
Innovative Technologies is acquiring Polymedica Woundcare, the US wound care company, from Polymedica Industries for £10.8m.
24-Jun-1997
ED&F Man is selling its cocoa processing business to Archer-Daniels-Midland of the US for £135m, but retains its cocoa sourcing and cocoa merchanting operations.
21-Jun-1997
Zeneca is to acquire ICI Australia's pharmaceuticals business, for a price yet to be decided.
21-Jun-1997
Jarvis has acquired Fastline, the rail track renewal company, for £50m, and is also buying the outstanding 50% of Relayfast for £5m.
20-Jun-1997
Edgemond Engineering of the West Midlands has been sold by Edgemond Group to a management buy-out for £8.6m.
17-Jun-1997
Megalomedia is acquiring Computer Film Holdings, the supplier of digital effects on movies, for up to £8.6m.
17-Jun-1997
PacifiCorp of the US has launched a £3.65bn recommended offer for Energy Group, although some analysts fear it may be referred to the Monopolies & Mergers Commission.
14-Jun-1997
Princes, the Mitsubishi subsidiary, has acquired the Barber Springdale soft drinks business from Hillsdown, which has assets of £13.6m.
14-Jun-1997
Saint Gobain of France is acquiring Unicorn, the UK abrasives maker, for £85m.
14-Jun-1997
CRT has acquired Software Design Associates, the IT consultancy, for £17m.
13-Jun-1997
Senior Engineering has acquired Nitrotec Services, the provider of heat treatment processes for metal components, from LucasVarity for about £3m.
11-Jun-1997
Granada is planning a takeover of Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television, which is thought to be worth about £800m, in a deal that would create a dominant force in independent television in the north of England.
10-Jun-1997
The Mister Minit international shoe repair and key-cutting business is to be sold to the UBS banking group for undisclosed terms.
10-Jun-1997
Bupa is to acquire Goldsborough, the chain of 32 nursing homes and six hospitals, for £77m.
07-Jun-1997
Lear Corporation of the US is acquiring Dunlop Cox, the maker of frames for vehicle seats, from BTR for £36m.
07-Jun-1997
Valmet of Finland is acquiring Atlas Converting Equipment, the packaging equipment maker, for £86m.
05-Jun-1997
Thomson Directories, the information services company, is being sold by US West International to a consortium that includes existing management for £80m.
05-Jun-1997
Coal Products Holdings has acquired British Fuels, the coal, oil and gas distributor, for £32m, giving it national coverage for the first time.
04-Jun-1997
Albert Fisher is acquiring Howard Long International, the Norfolk-based supplier of prepared lettuce to McDonald's, for £27m.
04-Jun-1997
Smiths Industries has acquired Torin Holdings, the small fans and motors company, for £15.5m, and PolyPhaser, the US maker of lightning protection equipment, for £17.5m.
03-Jun-1997
Scottish Media, the owner of Scottish Television, is to acquire Grampian, the other Scottish ITV company, for over £100m.
02-Jun-1997
First Leisure is acquiring Riverside, the chain of three tennis and fitness clubs and two Espree gym clubs in London, for £61m.
31-May-1997
Ennstone is to raise over £8m in a share placing in order to fund the purchase and expansion of Tarmac's masonry products division, as part of a plan to widen its product base and strengthen its balance sheet.
30-May-1997
Avonmore and Waterford have agreed to merge, creating the largest milk company in Ireland and the UK and a "significant international food company".
28-May-1997
Bradford & Bingley is acquiring Mortgage Express from Lloyds TSB for £64m.
24-May-1997
Fenner has acquired Scandura Holdings, the US manufacturer of conveyor belts, for £44m.
22-May-1997
Booker is selling its prepared foods business to a management buy-in for £57m, in order to reduce debt and focus on its core food services business.
21-May-1997
Kingfisher is acquiring BCC Holding Amstelveen, the Dutch electrical retailer with 17 stores, for £34m.
21-May-1997
Bowthorpe is acquiring Adtech, the Hawaii-based digital test equipment concern, for £31m, as part of a plan to strengthen its telecommunications and power activities.
20-May-1997
Quality Care Homes has agreed to a £46m takeover bid from Principal Healthcare Investors, which will run the nursing homes in a joint venture with Tamaris.
19-May-1997
De La Rue is acquiring the French-based smart card manufacturing business of Philips, for £54m.
16-May-1997
Compass has acquired National Leisure Catering, the food service group which includes Wembley and the Oval among its customers, for £11m.
16-May-1997
Southern Star Group of Australia has launched a recommended £8.3m takeover bid for Circle Communications, the UK television rights company.
15-May-1997
Tibbett & Britten has launched an agreed £17m bid for Applied Distribution Group, the rival distribution company.
14-May-1997
Zeneca is acquiring Mogen International, the Dutch plant biotechnology concern, for £46m, and expects to benefit from Mogen's expertise in fungal control.
14-May-1997
Grand Metropolitan and Guinness are planning to merge to create the largest spirits and wine group in the world, which will be called GMG Brands and valued at £24bn.
13-May-1997
Portman Building Society is planning to merge with Greenwich Building Society to create the sixth largest building society in the UK with assets of £4.3bn.
13-May-1997
Siebe has announced a £331m agreed takeover offer for APV, the process equipment maker.
10-May-1997
Adminstore, which trades under the Europa Foods and Harts the Grocer names, has announced a £7.4m agreed takeover offer for Cullens, the convenience store chain.
10-May-1997
Hamleys has acquired Hobbies & Models, which owns 11 Toy Stack shops in the south east, for £8.7m.
10-May-1997
Alfred McAlpine has acquired Raine, the housebuilder, in a £42m share deal, creating the seventh largest housebuilder in the UK and giving McAlpine access to three new regions - Yorkshire, Northumbria and Cumbria.
09-May-1997
Lonrho is selling its 94% stake in Lonrho Sugar Corporation to Illovo Sugar of South Africa for £227m, in order to reduce debt and prepare for a restructuring.
09-May-1997
Lynx Holdings has acquired Apex Computer Group, the provider of manufacturing and financial systems, for £10.6m.
09-May-1997
Oxford Molecular is acquiring Genetics Computer and MRL Automation, two US software companies that specialise in the development of new drugs, funded by a £30m rights issue.
09-May-1997
ICI is acquiring Unilever's speciality chemicals division, which includes National Starch, Quest, Unichema and Crosfield, for £4.9bn, and is also discussing the sale of £3bn of its own industrial chemicals businesses including polyester, fertilisers, chlorine, explosives and pigments.
08-May-1997
Scotia Haven has acquired Whitworths, the baking ingredients business, from Napier Brown for £44m, and now aims to launch dried fruit products into the snacks market.
08-May-1997
Capital Radio is acquiring Virgin Radio Group, which owns a national commercial licence and an FM licence in London, for £65m, giving Capital a total of three radio stations in London.
07-May-1997
Warner Lambert has acquired PharmaChem, Hickson International's loss-making subsidiary, for £28m, thus completing the restructuring at Hickson.
02-May-1997
Morgan Crucible, the industrial carbons and ceramics company, is making four acquisitions for a total £12.4m - AGS of the US, Cupex of France, DR Energy of the UK, and Ash Fibre of the UK - and is also setting up a thermal ceramics joint venture in Japan with Nippon Steel Chemical.
02-May-1997
GKN is acquiring Sinter Metals, the US powder metallurgy company, for £352m, thus giving it 14% of the world market for lightweight components made from the precision pressing of metal and carbide powders.
01-May-1997
Wickes is to sell Wickes Continental, the chain of 39 DIY stores in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, to Bricorama of France for £7.5m, which will reduce Wickes' group debt by £12.5m.
01-May-1997
Sears has reached agreement to sell the Freemans mail order business to Littlewoods for £367m, and also plans to demerge the Selfridges department store next year as part of a restructuring aimed at stemming the losses in its £465m footwear business.
30-Apr-1997
Surrey Free Inns is acquiring Richardsons Inns, the owner of pubs and bars around London, for £11m.
29-Apr-1997
Viasystems of the US has acquired Interconnection Systems, the Tyneside-based PCB producer, for undisclosed terms, and has set up a European HQ in London as it attempts to become the world's biggest producer.
26-Apr-1997
Commercial Union has acquired Societe d'Epargne Viagere, the French life assurer, and Sinafer, the insurance broker, from Compagnie de Suez for a sum thought to be about £140m.
25-Apr-1997
Enterprise Inns is acquiring Discovery Inns, the operator of over 200 pubs, for £46m.
24-Apr-1997
Hepworth is selling its refractories business to Alpine Group of the US for £62m.
17-Apr-1997
C&J Clark, the shoe group, is selling its factory outlets to MEPC, the property company, for £80m.
16-Apr-1997
Bardon and Camas are to merge to create the UK's fifth largest aggregates producer, forming a new group called Aggregate Industries.
15-Apr-1997
Scottish Power has sold IT Southern, the computer services division of its Southern Water acquisition, to ICL for £10.8m.
15-Apr-1997
Great Universal Stores has acquired Direct Marketing Technology, the US marketing database company, for £180m.
15-Apr-1997
Royal & Sun Alliance is acquiring the Italian life assurance and pensions business of Prudential for £46m.
11-Apr-1997
Siemens has now agreed to buy Parsons Power Generation Systems from Rolls-Royce for £30m and will take on 880 of the remaining workers.
10-Apr-1997
Tomkins is acquiring Stant Corporation, the US car parts maker, for £372m.
10-Apr-1997
Melrose Energy is changing its name to Pentex Energy and selling its oil and gas businesses and US interests for £13.6m.
08-Apr-1997
United Utilities has announced the disposal of Norweb's US generation interests to Indeck North American Power Fund for £25m.
08-Apr-1997
Carrs Paper, the West Midlands-based paper and packaging concern, has been acquired by institutional investors for £24.4m.
08-Apr-1997
Rexam has sold four more subsidiaries for a total £24.4m - Goodhead Group has bought Benham & Company, Cookson has bought Tactus International, and Silgen Plastics has bought Rexam Containers in North America.
08-Apr-1997
The Peacock and Millets chains of clothing retailers are being sold to a management buy-out for £78m, and plans are being prepared to open 40 stores a year.
04-Apr-1997
IMI is acquiring TA Hydronics, the Swedish valve maker, for £97m.
04-Apr-1997
Carlton Communications has acquired Rank Film Distributors from the Rank Group for £65m.
03-Apr-1997
Amstrad is selling Dancall Telecom, its mobile telephone business, to Robert Bosch of Germany for £92m.
02-Apr-1997
Pressac Holdings is acquiring Kaumagraph, the US supplier of dashboard displays for cars, for £9m.
02-Apr-1997
Prudential has acquired the New Zealand life business of General Accident for £70m.
27-Mar-1997
GKN Westland Aerospace is acquiring the assets of BP Chemicals advanced materials business for £9m.
27-Mar-1997
Prudential Corporation is acquiring Scottish Amicable, the mutual life insurer, for £2.87bn, and will pay policyholders average windfalls of £1,400.
26-Mar-1997
Reed Elsevier is to acquire MDL Information Systems, the US manager of research and development information, for £201m.
25-Mar-1997
Cruden Bay is to acquire Technolog, the electronic instruments maker, for up to £27.7m.
25-Mar-1997
Blue Circle Industries is acquiring St Mary's Cement Corporation of Canada for £164m.
25-Mar-1997
Carclo Engineering Group has acquired EIS Group's technical moulding division for £25.6m.
24-Mar-1997
Charter has made an agreed £385m bid for Howden, the engineering group.
22-Mar-1997
Pegasus is acquiring CSM, the supplier of accounting software, from Microvitec for £6.7m.
21-Mar-1997
Hanson is acquiring Concrete Pipe & Products, the US concrete pipe maker, for £78m.
21-Mar-1997
Ocean Group is planning to sell its flotilla of offshore-support vessels to Tidewater of the US for £328m, and will use the proceeds for acquisitions.
21-Mar-1997
T&N is acquiring Metal Leve's US auto parts business for £31m, which will make it one the world's largest piston manufacturers.
21-Mar-1997
Finelist Group is acquiring Maccess, the car parts retailer, from Heywood Williams for £32.6m.
21-Mar-1997
TT Group has acquired Wire & Cables Group from GEC for £16m.
20-Mar-1997
BSG International has sold its Bristol Street motor dealership to management for £68m, but will retain a 20% stake under its new name Britax International.
19-Mar-1997
Britannic Assurance is to take on more staff to help sort out problems with pensions mis-selling in order to speed up the review of up to 13,000 cases.
19-Mar-1997
IMI has acquired Sulzer's Thermtec industrial valves division for £10m.
17-Mar-1997
General Cable has acquired Imminus, the data networking group, for £33m, and aims to win a national telecoms licence in order to expand beyond its franchise areas.
14-Mar-1997
Wiggins Group is acquiring Tomorrows Leisure, the hotels and leisure management concern, for about £15m.
05-Mar-1997
Forward Group, the printed circuit board company, is being acquired by Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, the US buy-out specialist, for £129m.
04-Mar-1997
SIG Group has sold SIG Architectural Products, the supplier of hardware to the replacement window market, to a management buy-out for £65m.
04-Mar-1997
Glynwed International has sold Wednesbury Tube, the copper tube maker, to Mueller Industries of the US for about £12m.
04-Mar-1997
Sage has acquired KHK Software, the German accounting software concern, for £40m, giving it immediate leadership of the German market.
01-Mar-1997
Vaux Group has sold its St Andrews nursing homes business to Highfield Group for an initial £35m, which will more than double the size of Highfield to over 3,500 beds.
28-Feb-1997
Partco, the vehicle parts distributor, is acquiring Dana Distribution Europe from Dana Corp of the US for £103m.
28-Feb-1997
BTP has acquired PCR, the US fine chemicals concern, for £44m.
28-Feb-1997
Rosebys has acquired Bensons, the bed retailer, for up to £25m.
27-Feb-1997
ED&F Man is acquiring the worldwide molasses business of Cargill for £60m in a move which will make Man the world leader.
27-Feb-1997
Shire Pharmaceuticals is acquiring Pharmavene, the US drugs delivery concern, for up to £104m, and will make further acquisitions using funding from a £11.5m planned share offer.
26-Feb-1997
Yorkshire Electricity has received a £1.5bn agreed takeover bid from American Electric Power and Public Service Company of Colorado, but the deal will now require regulatory approval.
25-Feb-1997
Simon Engineering has sold the industrial arm of its Access division to Terex of the US for £55m, in order to reduce debt.
25-Feb-1997
Bunzl is acquiring American Filtrona, the US filter and fibre business, for £45m.
21-Feb-1997
Forward Trust, the leasing group, has acquired the Eversholt train leasing company for £788m.
20-Feb-1997
FirstBus has launched a £54m agreed takeover bid for CentreWest, the London bus operator, and plans to upgrade their fleet of buses.
20-Feb-1997
Gulf Canada has won control of Clyde Petroleum with a £494m cash offer, and job cuts are now likely.
19-Feb-1997
Investcorp of Bahrain has acquired the Welcome Break motorway service centre chain from Granada for £473m, and now plans to expand the chain into other service areas and abroad.
19-Feb-1997
Cooper Tire & Rubber is acquiring Avon Rubber's tyre division for about £60m, as Avon aims to focus on automotive components and technical products.
19-Feb-1997
Wellington Underwriting has made an agreed £35m bid for Premium Insurance to create a combined group with over £600m of underwriting capacity.
18-Feb-1997
Prowting has acquired Magnus Homes, the Midlands and west country builder, for £11.6m.
18-Feb-1997
Geoworks of the US has bought Eden Group, the UK software company, for £18m in order to develop its smart phones business.
14-Feb-1997
British Gas has been demerged into two new businesses - Centrica, the domestic gas trading and supply operation, and BG plc, the pipeline and international exploration and production operation.
13-Feb-1997
Siebe is acquiring Whessoe, the instruments and controls manufacturer, for £46m.
13-Feb-1997
Rexam has sold Otis Specialty Papers to Wausau Paper Mills of the US for £36m, and PT Rexam Mulox, the Indonesian maker of chemical containers, to a management buy-out for £1.3m.
13-Feb-1997
Rugby has sold Rom, its metal products division, to management for £14m.
12-Feb-1997
Cable & Wireless has ended its European telecommunications partnership with Veba by selling its stake in their Vebacom joint venture to the German company for £820m.
08-Feb-1997
Ricardo Group has sold its Inbis nuclear and aerospace design division to management for £7m in order to focus on its core automotive engineering business.
08-Feb-1997
Core Laboratories of Texas has acquired Scott Pickford, the UK oil consultancy, for £7.5m.
08-Feb-1997
BTR has acquired Pollux Meter Group, the French maker of water meters, for £163m.
07-Feb-1997
Jacobs Holdings has acquired Ropner, the shipping, property and engineering concern, for about £34m.
06-Feb-1997
Royal & Sun Alliance has acquired the non-life insurance business of Bank Argentaria, the Spanish bank, for about £20m.
05-Feb-1997
Sema Group has acquired BR Business Systems, the train ticket and timetable concern, for £27m, and plans to win rail contracts in other countries using the skills of BRBS.
04-Feb-1997
National Railway Supplies, the provider of equipment for track maintenance, has been sold to a management buy-out with the backing of Unipart.
04-Feb-1997
Ladbroke has acquired AR Dennis, the chain of 114 betting shops in the south-east, for £31m.
04-Feb-1997
OGC International has recommended a £73m takeover bid from Halliburton, the US energy services company.
30-Jan-1997
Hampson Industries is to acquire Arabis, the engineering company, for £17.5m.
30-Jan-1997
British Airways is selling its ground fleet services at Heathrow and Gatwick to Ryder System of the US, and will rent the vehicles back.
29-Jan-1997
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette has acquired Phoenix Securities, the merchant bank, for a sum thought to be about £50m.
29-Jan-1997
Ingersoll-Rand has announced a £230m agreed takeover of Newman Tonks, the architectural hardware concern, thus beating FKI's £189m bid.
28-Jan-1997
Senior Engineering is acquiring the Ketema A&E division, which makes components for the aerospace sector in California, from Ketema Inc, for £12.5m.
28-Jan-1997
British Steel Forgings is being acquired in a management buy-out for £74.5m.
28-Jan-1997
ICI is acquiring the Syngas catalyst business from BASF for about £15m.
28-Jan-1997
BAT's Farmers insurance subsidiary in the US has sold three life assurance operations for £202m.
25-Jan-1997
Camas is selling Camas Associated Asphalt's highway construction and maintenance business to a management buy-in for up to £7.6m.
24-Jan-1997
Morland, the brewer, has acquired 16 pubs from Whitbread for £3.4m and 24 American-style bar diners from Allied Domecq for £32m.
24-Jan-1997
Allied Irish Banks has acquired Dauphin Deposit Corp, the Pennsylvania bank holding company, for £810m.
22-Jan-1997
Rugby Group is acquiring Boulton & Paul, the windows and doors company, for £15.5m, thus increasing Rugby's share of the doors market from 24 to 32%.
22-Jan-1997
Blue Circle is planning to acquire St Mary's Cement Corporation of Canada for about £200m, in order to strengthen its North American activities.
22-Jan-1997
Datrontech is acquiring RD Trading, the computer product recycling specialist, for £5m, and Xenon Holdings, the supplier of computer network services, for £3.7m.
22-Jan-1997
Olivetti is selling its PC division to Piedmont International, a new company set up for the purpose, for up to £116m, in order to focus on telecommunications.
21-Jan-1997
Hays has acquired North & South Installations, the transporter of refrigeration units for retailers, for an initial £4.5m.
21-Jan-1997
Heywood Williams has acquired two US companies for £5.4m - Verns Quality Products and Columbia Plastics.
21-Jan-1997
Fairey Group has won control of Burnfield, the maker of measuring instruments, and will now block Burnfield's attempted acquisition of Ling Dynamic Systems.
21-Jan-1997
Reed Elsevier has acquired Colofon, the Dutch publisher of scientific and business material, for up to £80m.
21-Jan-1997
Finelist is acquiring Ferraris Piston Service, the vehicle parts distributor, from Tomkins for £61m.
17-Jan-1997
Siebe has acquired Satchwell Controls, the maker of building automation systems, from GEC for £80m.
03-Jan-1997
Hays is to acquire Daufenbach, the German logistics company, for up to £30m in order to expand its European distribution network.
03-Jan-1997
Spirax-Sarco Engineering is acquiring Bredel Holdings, the Dutch maker of heavy duty pumps, for £17m.
03-Jan-1997