Business news with words acquired+million. 60 or more news.

Transmeridian Exploration agreed to be acquired by its chief executive's Trans Meridian International in a deal that values the energy company at $350 million.

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.

Plans to get Greensburg's destroyed Twilight Theatre back in business are progressing. The theater's board and benefactors -- including Bill Warren -- want to break ground next spring for a $1.5 million, 414-seat facility on the southeast corner of Main and Florida. That's the long-term goal. A shorter-term issue is the need to sell $63,000 in tax credits recently acquired from the Kansas Department of Commerce -- by the close of business Monday. Tax credits are an investment vehicle producing a dollar-for-dollar reduction of the owner's tax liability. The theater was among the downtown Greensburg buildings destroyed when a tornado leveled most of the city May 4. The new Twilight is at least a year off, but progress toward restoring the community's gathering place is welcome, said theater board member Randy Kelly.

ABX Air Inc. has acquired another Boeing 767 freighter from Delta Air Lines and is paying for it with a $15.75 million, 10-year loan from Chase Equipment Leasing Inc., the company said today in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Pacific Northwest Lexington, Mass.-based Cubist Pharmaceuticals said Wednesday it acquired Seattle-based biotech Illumigen for $9 million...

NEUSOFT Group Ltd will acquire its parent through a share swap, which will double the market value of the Shanghai-listed software vendor to 520 million yuan (US$70.27 million), Neusoft said in a statement yesterday. Chinese software firms, which grew most rapidly, need to boost economies of scale to compete internationally, the Ministry of Information Industry said. Neusoft has received approval from regulators, including the China Securities Regulatory Commission, to buy its parent's assets via a share swap of 1 to 3.5, according to the company's statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. After the purchase, the firm will be valued at 520 million yuan from 280 million yuan now. "The deal is a milestone in the company's history and it will continue to grow through the resources acquired from the parent firm," said Neusoft's chairman Liu Jiren in a Chinese-language statement.

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.

SICHUAN Changhong Electrical Co acquired a controlling stake in Huayi Compressor Co through an auction on Monday to become the compressor maker's biggest shareholder. The country's second-largest television maker paid 234 million yuan (US$32 million) for 29.92 percent stake in Jiangxi-based Huayi which produces compressors for air conditioners and refrigerators, it said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday.

SICHUAN Changhong Electrical Co acquired a controlling stake of Huayi Compressor Co through an auction yesterday to become the compressor maker's biggest shareholder, Changhong said in a statement today. The country's second-largest television maker paid 234 million yuan (US$32 million) for 29.92-percent stake in the Jiangxi-based Huayi which produces compressors for air conditioners and refrigerators, it said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Changhong's net profit in the first nine months of this year totaled 340 million yuan, jumping 39 percent from a year earlier on the booming electronics market. The TV maker has grabbed the lion's share of government-financed home appliance sales in rural areas. China promised to give farmers subsidies, about 13 percent, for buying household electrical appliances, in a bid to stimulate sluggish rural consumption and reduce the rising trade surplus, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Commerce said over the weekend.

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

Unicorn Investment Bank BSC, a closely held Islamic investment bank based in Bahrain, acquired a 75 percent stake in Open-Silicon Inc., a semiconductor maker based in Milpitas, California, for US$190 million.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts said Friday that it's agreed to buy U.K. business software company Northgate Information Solutions for 593 million pounds ($1.19 billion), or 95 pence a share. The deal is at a 40.5% premium to the average closing price for the month ended Dec. 11, the day before Northgate announced it had received an approach. It's also a 49% premium to the closing price of 63.75 pence on Thursday. KKR said it's acquired a 19.6% stake in the company through a deal with two major shareholders at the offer price and has received irrevocable undertaking to accept the deal from shareholders representing a further 0.3% of the shares.

Eclypsis Corp. said U.K.-Dutch publisher Reed Elsevier N.V's Elsevier unit paid $25 million for Eclypsis' Clinical Practice Model Resource Center. Reed Elsevier reported the acquisition Thursday morning. The sale closed Dec. 19. Eclipsys, a Boca Raton, Fla., health-care information technology company, said Thursday morning that additional amounts are potentially payable in the future based on ongoing business between the companies. As part of the acquisition, Elsevier acquired several CPM Resource Center lines of business, including a comprehensive database of clinical content, consulting services, a healthcare consortium of rural, community and academic organizations, and practice-education partnerships with academic and affiliate clinical settings. Eclipsys said it will continue to include CPM Resource Center content in its Sunrise Knowledge-Based Charting product in exchange for license fees payable to Elsevier. Elsevier will also take over responsibility for maintenance and consulting services for the Centers content, providing clients with continuity in relationships with its professionals. Eclipsys said the sale was part of its strategy to expand and enhance content integration in Sunrise Knowledge-Based Charting and other Sunrise Clinical Manager integrated products and services. Clinical Practice Model Resource Center, a provider of evidence-based clinical content and services, is located in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Two Google enemies, Microsoft and Viacom, have banded together in a deal reportedly worth $500 million. The agreement calls for Microsoft's recently acquired Atlas to serve ads on all Viacom Web sites. Currently, DoubleClick -- which has agreed to be acquired by Google -- serves ads for Viacom, according to the Associated Press.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - DG FastChannel Inc. , a provider of digital media advertising services, on Wednesday updated its 2007 results and raised its forecast for 2008. DG FastChannel now expects to generate full year 2007 pro forma revenue in a range of $116 million to $118 million and pro forma EBITDA of about $39 million. DG FastChannel's prior 2007 pro forma guidance was for revenue in a range of $110 million to $113 million and EBITDA in a range of $37 million to $39 million. The company raised its 2008 revenue and EBITDA guidance on a pro forma basis, assuming all entities acquired in 2007 were combined with DG FastChannel as of January 1, 2007 and reflecting current estimates of expense synergies, the company said. The company now expects full year 2008 revenue in a range of $126 million to $130 million and pro forma EBITDA in a range of about $44 million to $48 million. DG FastChannel's prior 2008 pro forma guidance was for revenue in a range of $122 million to $126 million and pro forma EBITDA in a range of $41 million to $44 million. Separately, DG FastChannel said it would acquire the Vyvx advertising services business including its distribution, post-production and related operations from Level 3 Communications Inc. . The forecast provided does not include results in either 2007 or 2008 for the Vyvx advertising services business.

LEADING Philippine food maker JG Summit Holdings Inc has invested up to US$30 million to build a biscuit plant in Shanghai, part of an aggressive plan to take on Nestle and Nabisco in China. The plant will begin production at the end of this month, making 10,000 tons of biscuits a year under the name Aces it acquired from a local rival in 2005, according to John Gokongwei Jr, the founder and chairman emeritus of JG Summit, yesterday. JG Summit also plans to make snack foods, cereals and instant coffee in China. "China's biscuits industry is very fragmented. There are really no global or nationally known brands and products," the 81-year old Chinese Filipino said. "But that will change. Big conglomerates will dominate the whole country in the coming years." The move extends JG Summit's competition against Nestle, Nabisco and Danone. Kraft, which has just acquired the biscuits business of Groupe Danone, also plans to step up efforts such as strengthening

Shares of Burnaby, B.C.-based Extreme CCTV Inc. rose in Friday trading on the TSX after the company struck a $93-million deal to be acquired by Robert Bosch GmbH of Germany.

PROPERTIES in China are continuing to attract global investors who seek benefits not only from natural appreciation, but also from those seeking profits from the rise of the yuan against the US dollar. "The series of macro-economic and regulatory measures introduced to curb investment activity through the end of June 2007 did not lead to any significant reduction in interest among overseas investors in China," CB Richard Ellis, one of the big five property companies, said in a report released yesterday. The investment market in major Chinese cities remained buoyant in the third quarter. In Shanghai, China Real Estate Opportunities acquired a portfolio of mixed-use projects, including City Center in Changning District and Central Plaza in Huangpu District, at a total cost of about US$708 million. Hong Kong-listed Tian An China Investments and Capital Strategic Investment established a joint venture to acquire Novel Plaza for US$105 million. Other major deals included

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Thomson Corp. said Friday that its controlling shareholder, Woodbridge Company Ltd, will reinvest 50% of its quarterly dividends in Thomson common shares during the first three quarters of 2008 in accordance with the terms of Thomson's dividend reinvestment plan. Reuters said Thursday it intends to buy back up to 50 million of its ordinary shares prior to being acquired by Thomson.

Penthouse Media Group said Wednesday that it had acquired Internet social-networking company Various for $500 million.