Deals of the day - Mergers and acquisitions

May 16: The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Friday:

** Spain will relaunch the sale of bailed-out lender Catalunya Banc next week after two failed auctions, sources close to the process said, and may include state support to spare the bank more losses and make it more attractive to investors.

** Darden Restaurants Inc said on Friday it would sell Red Lobster to private equity firm Golden Gate Capital for $2.1 billion in cash, defying activist investors who opposed plans to shed the struggling seafood chain.

** The Italian government approved plans on Friday to sell stakes of up to 40 percent in Poste Italiane, the national post office, and of 49 percent in state-owned air traffic control operator Enav SpA.

** German real estate group Corpus Sireo, which manages offices for clients such as Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Telekom, Cerberus and Brookfield, has attracted several bids and expects a sale to be decided in July, people familiar with the matter said.

The owners of Corpus Sireo - savings banks in Cologne, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt - have asked for binding offers by an end-June deadline in a two-part deal potentially worth more than 600 million euros ($823 million), the sources said.

** Abbott Laboratories said on Friday it would acquire Chile's CFR Pharmaceuticals SA in a two-part, $2.9 billion deal, to double its branded generic drugs portfolio and expand in the fast-growing Latin American market.

** The Dutch Gemini offshore wind farm project placed a 2.8 billion euro ($3.84 billion) construction and services order with a consortium led by Canada's Northland Power and Germany's Siemens.

** The Swedish government launched a fight back on Friday against U.S. drugmaker Pfizer's proposed takeover of AstraZeneca, which has half its roots and more than 5,000 staff in Sweden, highlighting the risks to jobs and science.

** Indonesian state energy firm PT Pertamina is planning to buy mostly overseas oil and gas assets to help raise its output nearly five-fold to 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2025.

** India's Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone has bought the port of Dhamra in a deal worth 55 billion rupees ($930 million) including debt, as the company looks to handle more coal and iron ore shipments mined in India's east.

** Australian bread and dairy company Goodman Fielder Ltd said it will recommend shareholders accept a sweetened A$1.37 billion ($1.28 billion) takeover offer from Wilmar International Ltd and First Pacific Co.

** Carphone Warehouse and entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Group have entered exclusive talks with French telecoms company Numericable to sell Virgin Mobile France, their joint venture mobile virtual network operator, for an enterprise value of 325 million euros, Carphone and Numericable said on Friday.

** French telecoms market leader Orange is in talks about a tie-up with Bouygues Telecom, France's economy minister said on Friday after two sources said the discussions could lead to Orange acquiring its smaller rival.

** Malaysia's state oil company Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) has awarded a consortium of Siemens , Siemens Malaysia and MMC Engineering Services a contract to build a co-generation plant in the state of Johor, it said on Friday.

** Investment fund Strategic Holdings has boosted its stake in French holiday company Club Mediterranee and hopes to have constructive talks with its management, a spokesman for the fund said on Friday.

** Polish antimonopoly regulator UOKiK said on Friday it had approved a pending 1.03 billion zloty ($337 million) takeover of the state-controlled chemical group Ciech by Poland's richest man Jan Kulczyk.

** A fund led by Andrea Bonomi said on Friday it had raised its stake in Club Mediterranee, one week ahead of the closure deadline for a takeover offer for the French holiday firm that the Italian businessman opposes.

** VB-Leasing International (VBLI), a joint venture of Austria's Volksbanken AG and Germany's DZ Bank, has agreed to sell units in Poland and Romania to Poland's Getin Holding, Volksbanken said on Friday.

** U.S.-based PR software and services firm Meltwater said on Friday it was withdrawing its offer to buy Swedish peer Cision after losing a bidding war with private-equity group GTCR.

($1 = 1.07 Australian dollar)

($1 = 0.73 euro)

($1 = 3.06 Polish zloty)

($1 = 59.03 Indian rupee) - Reuters