Business news with words agreed+deal+purchase. 28 news.

DELEK Real Estate Ltd, the Israeli company that backed out of a US$2.9-billion deal with Jelmoli AG, has agreed to buy 12 Frankfurt-area supermarkets from Metro AG, Germany's biggest retailer, for 243 million euros (US$349 million), Bloomberg News reported on Sunday. Delek, through its Delek Global Real Estate unit, will acquire the buildings from the Real supermarket chain, a subsidiary of Metro, the Netanya, Israel-based company said in an e-mailed statement to the stock exchange. Real will rent 10 of the supermarkets from Delek through 2022, and the other two through 2020, beginning at 16 million euros annually for all the properties. The rent will increase 6.7 percent every five years. "DGRE has again purchased a property with a quality tenant for a long period in a central area, and proved that even in these times it can use its connections to close deals and get good financing," Chief Executive Officer Ilik Rozanski said in the statement. Delek Real Estate, a

Cerberus Capital Management L.P. agreed Monday to pay United Rentals Inc. a $100 million breakup fee for dropping its $4 billion purchase of the equipment-rental company.

CHINA Investment Corp said on Saturday the reference price for its stake in US-based Morgan Stanley was fixed between US$48.07 and US$57.68 per share. The state-owned forex investment firm reached an agreement with Morgan Stanley on Wednesday to invest US$5 billion into the second largest investment bank in the US. The injection was used to purchase equity units that are mandatorily convertible into Morgan Stanley common shares. The two sides agreed CIC would be able to convert the equity units into Morgan Stanley common shares at a price no more than 1.2 times the reference price when the conversion was due. CIC said the share of common stock underlying the convertible securities would not be issued until the exercise of the stock purchase contracts on August 17, 2010. The equity units carried a fixed annual interest rate of nine percent before conversion. Shares held by CIC were agreed to reach no more than 9.9 percent of outstanding shares. Wednesday's agreement came as

National Oilwell Varco agreed to purchase oil equipment company Grant Prideco in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $7.5 billion, the latest deal in the consolidating oil sector.

The firm is seen to announce next week that the acquisition of the French furniture unit has been agreed in principle. The deal follows last year's purchase of a retailer

LAFARGE SA has agreed to buy the cement unit of Orascom Construction Industries for 8.8 billion euros (US$12.9 billion), becoming the biggest producer in Egypt, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates. Lafarge, the world's largest cement company, will sell Orascom Chief Executive Officer Nassef Sawiris an 11.4-percent stake as part of the deal, the Paris-based company said, Bloomberg News reported. Lafarge will also borrow six billion euros to finance the purchase. The acquisition of Orascom, the biggest publicly traded cement maker in the Middle East, will add 45 million tons of production in fast-growing emerging markets. Lafarge and Switzerland's Holcim Ltd are investing overseas to tap growth in global construction and transport spending. Lafarge had its biggest gain in 15 years in Paris trading. "This is a beautiful acquisition from a strategic and industrial point of view," said Benoit de Broissia, who helps manage US$7.4 billion at Richelieu Finance in Paris.

Petrohawk Energy has agreed to purchase 3,000 acres in the Elm Grove Field of northern Louisiana for $169 million, the Houston-based company said today. The deal is expected to close by the end of next month, the company said in a release.

HANAROTELECOM Inc, South Korea's second-biggest provider of broadband Internet, said its top shareholder has agreed to sell its stake to SK Telecom Co, reversing a statement that cast doubt on the US$1.18 billion takeover. The group led by American International Group Inc and Newbridge Capital LLC signed an accord with SK Telecom on December 1, Hanaro said in a statement yesterday, contradicting its December 3 filing that said no deal had been sealed, Bloomberg News reported. The Korea Exchange said it will decide by December 28 whether to suspend trading of Hanaro shares for a day for "unfaithful disclosure." Seoul-based Hanaro would give SK Telecom access to a quarter of online users in a market where nine out of 10 homes have high-speed Internet connections. The purchase, subject to regulatory approval, would also enable SK Telecom to expand into markets such as online television broadcasts and offer products that combine fixed-line and wireless services. "It's

STANDARD Bank Group Ltd, Africa's largest lender, won approval for the sale of a 20-percent stake to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd for 36.7 billion rand (US$5.4 billion), China's largest overseas purchase. More than 95 percent of Standard Bank's investors voted in favor of selling ICBC new shares at 104.58 rand apiece, Chairman Derek Cooper said after a shareholder meeting in Johannesburg yesterday. Investors also agreed to sell existing shares at 136 rand each, said Vincent Maleka, a lawyer who chaired the meeting. "It's a huge kicker for Standard Bank's international expansion strategy," said Neville Chester, who helps manage the equivalent of US$20 billion including Standard Bank shares at Coronation Fund Managers in Cape Town. "The success of the deal now depends on its implementation." ICBC, the world's largest bank by market value, is paying an average 120.29 rand per share in cash, 14 percent more than Standard Bank's share price on

UNITED Co Rusal, the aluminum maker controlled by billionaire Oleg Deripaska, has agreed to buy a 25-percent stake in OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, Russia's largest miner, to reduce dependence on the aluminum market. Rusal will buy the stake, which has a market value of about US$13.8 billion, from Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim Group, the Moscow-based company said. Onexim will get an 11-percent stake in Rusal, and the remainder will be paid in cash, the aluminum producer told Bloomberg News, without disclosing specific terms. The purchase will reduce Rusal's dependence on "individual commodity cycles" and give it more financial strength to expand globally, the company said. Deripaska, 39, Russia's sixth-richest man with a fortune Forbes estimated at US$13.3 billion, took over the country's No. 2 aluminum producer, OAO Sual Group, earlier this year and is seeking to enter the oil industry by acquiring OAO Russneft. "Norilsk is a cash cow," Vladimir Zhukov, a

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.

OLYMPUS Corp, the world's largest maker of surgical cameras, has agreed to buy Gyrus Group Plc for about 935 million pounds (US$1.9 billion). The aim is to expand its most profitable business, Bloomberg News reported. Olympus offered 630 pence in cash for each share of Wokingham, England-based Gyrus, or 58 percent more than the stock's close on Friday, the two companies said in a statement yesterday. Shares of Gyrus soared 57 percent in London trading. The purchase would add scalpels and tools for sealing blood vessels to the Tokyo-based company's lineup of medical equipment, its largest division by revenue. Olympus earlier this month raised its annual profit forecast for a second time, citing sales of digital cameras and endoscopes that examine internal organs. The acquisition would place the companies to "benefit from the continuing shift toward minimally invasive surgical procedures," the statement said. Olympus's medical division posted sales of 168.2 billion

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- United Rentals Inc. said Monday that it has filed a lawsuit in Delaware Court of Chancery against RAM Holdings Inc. and RAM Acquisition Corp., acquisition vehicles of Cerberus Capital Management L.P. The lawsuit seeks to compel the Cerberus vehicles to consummate the deal. Last week, Cerberus Capital informed the company that Cerberus was not prepared to proceed with the purchase of United Rentals on the terms agreed on July 22. Under the agreement, Cerberus had agreed to buy United Rentals for $34.50 a share, for a total of about $7 billion. Shares of United Rentals were down fractionally Monday morning at $23.20.

The ?1bn purchase of Britain's second-tallest tower, in London's Canary Wharf, remains uncompleted four months after it was agreed, in a vivid sign of how the credit squeeze has affected the real estate market

CHINA'S Zijin Mining Group Co has agreed to buy a 20-percent stake in a gold-copper project from a Philippine mining company for US$70 million. Zijin will take the 20-percent interest in Far Southeast Gold Resources Inc from Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co, it said in a statement after the market closed on Thursday to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Shares in southeastern Fujian Province-based Zijin, China's leading gold miner, fell 3.05 percent to HK$12.72 (US$1.64) yesterday. But they had risen 0.6 percent on Thursday, bucking a general downturn in Hong Kong, as some may have learnt of the deal earlier. Zijin said the disclosure on the proposed purchase is made on voluntary basis. The Far Southeast project, in Benguet, the Philippines, has mineable ore reserves of 123 million tons, containing 0.8 percent copper and 1.51 grams of gold per ton, according to Lepanto, citing a 1995 feasibility study. Lepanto owns 60 percent of the project. The proposed acquisition is subject to

STANDARD Life Plc agreed to buy Resolution Plc, the UK's biggest administrator of closed life-insurance funds, for 4.9 billion pounds (US$10 billion) in the biggest takeover of a British insurer since 2000. Standard Life "will be one of the UK's leading life and pensions companies," the Edinburgh-based company said yesterday in a statement. Standard Life's proposal, backed by the Resolution board, amounts to 714.5 pence a share in cash and stock at Thursday's closing price, Bloomberg News said. "It will significantly expand our UK operations," Chief Executive Officer Sandy Crombie said in the statement. "We are on course to deliver on our financial targets. This recommended offer for Resolution is the next step." Standard Life's deal breaks Resolution's July agreement to buy Friends Provident Plc for 3.8 billion pounds. It also topped an offer of 691 pence a share last week from Pearl Group Ltd, Resolution's closest rival in the business of buying

EASYJET Plc, Europe's second-biggest discount airline, agreed to buy GB Airways Ltd for 103.5 million pounds (US$212 million) to add 15 planes and overtake British Airways Plc at London Gatwick airport. Following the cash purchase from Bland Group Ltd, GB will cease operating as a franchisee of British Airways, which had first option to buy the carrier. The deal means EasyJet will control 24 percent of takeoff slots at Gatwick instead of the 17 percent it had previously, the Luton, England-based airline said in a statement yesterday. EasyJet has made three acquisitions in the past eight years, including Go Fly Ltd, a low-cost British Airways franchise, in 2002. The airline wants 25 percent of passengers to be business fliers, who tend to make more expensive, late bookings. Business travelers now make up about 20 percent of EasyJet's customers. "This is a good deal," said Geoff van Klaveren, an analyst at BNP Paribas in London. "EasyJet's strategy is to attract

Though CNBC had concluded a deal with Dow Jones more than a month earlier, the slots were filled instead by ads for Fox Business Network. Fox's owner, News Corp., agreed to purchase Dow Jones in July, but that deal has not been completed.

MINING companies in China, the largest consumer of copper, iron ore and coal, are likely to buy more metal deposits and oilfields in Africa, Latin America and Australia to feed rising domestic demand. The prediction comes from Citigroup Inc, Bloomberg News reported. Aluminum Corp of China's purchase of Peru Copper Inc in August for US$860 million signals the start of overseas takeovers by Chinese companies, Alexander Molyneux, Citigroup's head of metals and mining in Asia, said in an interview on Monday. "The next merger and acquisition theme we will see here is offshore in commodities where China is short," Molyneux said from Hong Kong. "We've got more to come, particularly in copper, iron ore and nickel." China needs more commodities to fuel economic growth that has averaged an annual 10.1 percent over the past five years. The nation's rising consumption has sent copper, iron ore and nickel to records as it makes more cars, homes and appliances. Australia, Africa, Latin America and nations in southeast Asia are deemed to be "China-friendly," and deals are more likely there, said Molyneux. CNOOC Ltd, China's largest offshore oil producer, failed two years ago to complete a US$18.5-billion bid for Unocal Corp after United States law makers opposed the deal. CNOOC spent US$2.7 billion buying Nigerian oil fields last year. China Minmetals Corp, the nation's biggest metals trader, plans to buy more copper resources overseas, a company executive said on September 6. Anshan Iron & Steel Group, China's third-largest steel maker, last month agreed to a A$1.8-billion (US$1.6 billion) joint venture with Australia's Gindalbie Metals Ltd to develop two iron ore projects. Within China, there's likely to be more mergers and acquisitions for coal and gold firms as they are "fragmented" industries, said Molyneux.

(AP) -- Steel processor Ryerson Inc. said Tuesday an independent proxy advisory firm recommended that shareholders vote for an acquisition by a private investment fund affiliated with Platinum Equity LLC. The deal, which was agreed to in July, is worth $914.3 million based on the purchase price ...