The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Tuesday:

** Britain’s competition regulator set out more detail about what it intends to examine in its investigation of the tie-up between the retail power units of energy companies SSE and Innogy’s Npower.

** The independent board of South African construction group Murray & Roberts rebuffed the latest takeover bid offer by German investment house ATON, potentially setting the stage for another round of protracted wrangling.

** Russia’s state railway monopoly Russian Railways (RZhD) has put up for sale its railcar leasing unit TransFin-M and its subsidiary Absolut Bank and is in discussions with potential buyers, according to three sources briefed on the sale talks.

** Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd faces demands from disgruntled shareholders to put to a vote its $62-billion acquisition of London-listed Shire and do more to assuage concerns over the record-breaking deal.

** Bayer won U.S. approval for its planned takeover of Monsanto after agreeing to sell about $9 billion in assets, clearing a major hurdle for the $62.5 billion deal that will create by far the largest seeds and pesticides maker.

** Investment firm KKR confirmed it would buy BMC Software from owners including Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital, adding to a series of bets it has made on companies which provide software and IT systems for corporations.

** Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said it has led a consortium of investors to buy about 10 percent of Chinese courier ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc for $1.38 billion, as part of the e-commerce firm’s push into offline services.

** India’s cash-strapped Fortis Healthcare Ltd laid out plans for a fresh bidding process, after it became the subject of a bidding war by suitors seeking to cash in on an expected boom in India’s private healthcare market.

** Auto supplier Ningbo Jifeng Auto Parts is aiming to buy German rival Grammer in an agreed deal at a time when Chinese takeovers face increased scrutiny from German and European authorities eager to protect domestic know-how.

** German seed seller KWS Saat has made a rival offer for Bayer’s vegetable seed business, a unit Bayer had agreed to sell to BASF as part of its planned merger with Monsanto.

** China’s Ningbo Jifeng Auto Parts Co Ltd is offering to guarantee jobs for 7-1/2 years as part of its proposed takeover of German automotive supplier Grammer , two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

** British sandwich and coffee shop chain Pret A Manger was sold for $2 billion to an investment fund of Germany’s billionaire Reimann family, as part of a global acquisition spree aimed at challenging Nestle in the coffee sector.

** U.S. real estate investment company Prime Opportunities Investment Group said IWG Plc had rejected its offer approach for the British serviced office provider.

** Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd will inject some of its online pharmacy business into a listed unit in a deal valued at HK$10.6 billion ($1.35 billion), the firm said in a statement.

** Australia’s South32 Ltd said it has agreed to buy a 50 percent stake in the Eagle Downs metallurgical coal project in Queensland state from state-owned China BaoWu Steel Group for an upfront payment of $106 million.

** Australian lithium miner Galaxy Resources Ltd agreed to sell a package of mining tenements in Argentina to South Korean steelmaker POSCO for $280 million.

** British broadcaster ITV Plc is considering entering into a joint venture valued at 1 billion pounds ($1.33 billion) with BBC to acquire half of broadcaster UKTV, the Telegraph newspaper reported.

** The world’s largest liquid petroleum gas (LPG) shipper, Norway’s BW LPG, is offering to buy competitor Dorian LPG in a $1.1 billion all-stock deal in an effort to boost its earnings in a weak market, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

** Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Brazil’s government are “very close” to resolving a long-running dispute over an oil-rich offshore area, a deputy minister said, dismissing concerns a fuel pricing crisis had emerged as an obstacle in talks. (Compiled by Akshara P in Bengaluru)