Business news with words acquired+cash. 29 news.

Hi-Tech Pharmacal, a manufacturer of generic drugs, said Monday it has acquired an Alabama-based maker of pre-natal vitamins and cough and cold formulations, for $5 million in cash.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Merrill Lynch on Monday completed a previously announced deal with Aegon , where it's selling its life insurance unit for $1.25 billion in cash. Aegon's Transamerica companies will continue to supply insurance and investment products, including offering the flagship Merrill Lynch Investor Choice Annuity product through the acquired Merrill Lynch subsidiaries. Merrill Lynch expects to record a gain on sale during the fourth quarter of 2007 and anticipates the transaction to be slightly accretive to earnings per share and to have a positive effect on return on equity in 2008 after redeployment of proceeds. Aegon expects the acquisition to add scale to its existing business and to have a marginally positive effect on earnings per share.

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., Lexington, Mass., said it acquired Illumingen, a Seattle developer of a hepatitis C treatment. Cubist said in a statement on Wednesday that terms call for it to pay Illumigen's holders $9 million cash. In addition, as the hep C compound, IB657, is developed and reaches milestones, Cubist will pay as much as $75.5 million. Further payments would apply if the compound is developed for treatment of viruses other than hepatitis C, Cubist said. Cubist said it expects to file an investigational-new-drug application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2008.

FISHER & Paykel Healthcare Corp, the New Zealand-based maker of breathing masks to treat sleep disorders, rose to a three-month high in Wellington after the takeover of a rival stoked speculation about more mergers. The Auckland-based company jumped three percent to its highest since September 20, after Respironics Inc, the world's largest manufacturer of the breathing devices, was acquired by Royal Phillips Electronics NV for US$5.2 billion in cash, Bloomberg News reported. Fisher & Paykel has about seven percent of the market for products to treat obstructive sleep apnea, a condition thought to affect as many as 12 million Americans. It is among a handful of companies with US Food & Drug Administration approval to sell OSA devices, along with Respironics and ResMed Inc. "They definitely could be a takeover target because the OSA market is very attractive with its high growth," said Stephen Walker, who manages the equivalent of US$107 million at Walker Capital

CHINESE advertising firm Focus Media will acquire 100 percent of rival CGEN Digital Media Co Ltd, which is planning to list shares on Nasdaq. The deal will allow Focus to dominate China's in-store television advertising market and turn around declining sales in its network. Focus, China's largest overseas-listed advertising firm, will pay US$168.4 million in cash for CGEN Digital. Both firms are based in Shanghai. The deal, announced late on Monday night, will give the company stronger bargaining power to scale back discounts, industry observers said yesterday. An additional payment of up to US$181.6 million, part in cash and part in Focus's shares, will be offered if CGEN meets certain earnings targets during the next 24 months after the transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter next year. It is the third time that Focus, which runs TV ad screens in office buildings, cinemas and residential complexes, has acquired rivals or entered a new business just

Ellies has acquired the Megatron business for R180m, which will be settled in cash and shares.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- First Solar Inc. [s:FSLR] said late Friday it acquired commercial solar project designer Turner Renewable Energy LLC for about $34.3 million in stock and cash. Turner, so named in January 2007 when Ted Turner invested in the company, will operate as a unit of First Solar under the name First Solar Electric LLC.

Axcan Pharma, a Canadian pharmaceutical company specializing in treatments of gastrointestinal disorders, said Thursday that it will be acquired by TPG Capital for about $1.3 billion in cash. It is the latest in a string of smaller buyouts, since the summer’s credit market squeeze halted the mega-deals from earlier this year. The private equity firm, formerly [...]

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Tracinda Corp. said Tuesday it's withdrawing its cash tender offer of $64 a share for up to 21.875 million shares, or 16%, of Tesoro Corp. , after the oil refiner initiated a poison pill provision in its bylaws last week. "The rights plan recently adopted by the Tesoro Board of Directors inhibits value for all Tesoro shareholders by, among other things, restricting the ability of shareholders to vote, sell or acquire Tesoro shares freely without fear of triggering the draconian provisions of the rights plan," said Tracinda, the holding company for billionaire Kirk Kerkorian. The poison pill would have been triggered if any shareholder acquired more than 20% of Tesoro. It would not have applied, however, if Tracinda had followed through with its tender offer, which would have raised its total stake in the Houston firm to nearly 20%.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- French electrical supplies distributor Rexel on Friday said it will buy Hagemeyer for 4.85 euros a share in cash, or 3.1 billion euros ($4.6 billion). The offer has the unanimous backing of the Hagemeyer board and puts an end with a bidding war with France's Sonepar SA. Under the agreed transaction, Netherlands-based Rexel will sell the Northern American, Asian Pacific and some of Hagemeyer's European businesses to Sonepar. The deal will broaden Rexel's footprint and create a giant with 2006 pro-forma annual sales of around 14 billion euros. The purchase is expected to add to Rexel's earnings per share in 2008. It will yield annual synergies representing 1.3% to 1.5% of 2007 sales of the Hagemeyer acquired perimeter by 2011.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Mark Pinto, the chief technology officer of Applied Materials , told MarketWatch in an interview that the deal to acquire Baccini for $330 million will lift cash earnings in the first year and GAAP earnings in the second year. Baccini's revenue this year "will be quite a bit higher" than in 2006, he added. He said the Italian firm agreed to be acquired because, like other privately held European players in the solar field, it needs more investment capital. "They are choosing different paths, some IPO, some private equity and some being acquired," he said. "Most of the companies aren't doing this to cash out." Pinto added that the deal is especially attractive to Applied Materials because of the hopes for Italy as an end market, with comparatively high amounts of sunlight and lesser amounts of alternative energy sources, like hydroelectric or nuclear power. (Corrects executive's title.)

Oil services company Natco Group Inc. said late Monday it agreed to buy Norwegian separator technology company ConSepT AS in a cash and stock deal worth $25.5 million, net of cash acquired.

CLIVE Cowdery, the veteran head of Resolution, the closed-end fund group, must stop dithering. First, he backs a merger with Friends Provident, then he switches allegiance to Standard Life – before later withdrawing that support. He gave up on his favoured deal, the merger with Friends Provident. He now finds Hugh Osmond, his nemesis and arch rival at Pearl, in pole position, after Osmond acquired 24% of Resolution’s shares and plonked an all-cash bid on the table at 720p a share. Meantime, Standard Life has been faffing about with a lower offer of cash and shares that, not

Kern Oil & Refining Co., a privately held independent petroleum refining and marketing company that operates a refinery in Bakersfield, is being acquired by NTR Acquisition Co. (AMEX: NTQ) of Danbury, Conn., for $286.5 million in cash.

When the entrepreneur acquired a 32.5% stake in a private hospital chain, some in the City wondered whether it was the start of a serious foray into the healthcare sector

CHINA'S budget hotel industry, still in an expansion phase, saw its first acquisition when Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc announced last week it acquired the Top Star hotel chain for 340 million yuan (US$45.3 million). The deal, aimed to further consolidate Home Inns' leading position in the country, will help it increase its domestic portfolio to 330 hotels in more than 80 cities, according to David Sun, chief executive officer of Home Inns. Sun didn't say how long it would take to reach the target. As planned, Home Inns, the largest budget hotel chain in China, will take over Top Star's operation - 26 hotels in 18 cities - from November. Meanwhile, the company said it will retain the Top Star brand while adding Home Inns' logo to the acquired hotels. Home Inns also plans to leverage its customer network, technology platform as well as operations expertise to improve the earnings and cash flow of the Top Star hotels in the near future, the company said. The acquisition,

Which Europeans buy most on the sly? MANY people have enjoyed the fruits of someone else's undeclared labour, whether buying a cheap DVD from a street-seller or paying the gardener in cash. In a poll of the EU's 27 member countries, Denmark and the Netherlands are the (self-confessed) biggest users of the underground economy. In both countries 27% of respondents said they had acquired goods or services in the past year which they thought involved undeclared work. Less than 10% of people in Germany and Britain admitted acquiring something on the sly, below the EU average of 11%. Cypriots are the most law-abiding.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Kaydon Corp. said Monday that third-quarter net income fell to $17.1 million, or 54 cents a share, compared to $17.6 million, or 55 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Third-quarter sales rose to $107.4 million from $99.7 million a year ago. On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected the company to earn 59 cents a share on revenue of $110.9 million. The company also said it acquired Avon Bearings Corp. for $55 million in cash. Shares of Kaydon closed Friday at $55.30.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Puget Energy Inc. agreed to be acquired for $30 a share in cash by a consortium of long-term infrastructure investors led by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and British Columbia Investment Management Corp. The acquisition by the group, which also includes Alberta Investment Management, Macquarie-FSS Infrastructure Trust and Macquarie Bank Ltd., has an enterprise value of about $7.4 billion. The per-share consideration represents a premium of about 25% from Puget Energy's closing price Thursday of $23.95. The deal, expected to close during the second half of 2008, will provide Puget, a Bellevue, Wash., utility company, with $5 billion in capital over the next five years to support, supply and delivery infrastructure needs. Upon completion of the transaction, Puget's common stock will no longer be publicly traded. The company's headquarters will remain in Bellevue and its current employees and management team will remain in place.

Private equity deals seem to be making a modest comeback. Goodman Global, a maker of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment, said on Monday that it will be acquired by Hellman & Friedman for $2.65 billion. The private equity firm will pay $25.60 a share in cash, a 17 percent premium over the company’s Friday closing price. Given [...]