The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 1400 GMT on Wednesday :
** Germany's Thyssenkrupp and India's Tata Steel agreed on Wednesday to merge their European steel operations in a preliminary deal that would create the continent's No.2 steelmaker after ArcelorMittal.
** Japan's Toshiba Corp agreed on Wednesday to sell its prized semiconductor business to a group led by U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital LP, a key step in keeping the struggling Japanese conglomerate listed on the Tokyo exchange.
** U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group is quitting its decade-long mining services play in Australia through the A$517 million ($414 million) sale of its controlling stake in the highly leveraged earth-moving equipment provider Coates Hire.

** Southern Copper, one of the world's largest copper producers, is considering a bid to develop the Michiquillay project in Peru, at a time of strong prices that could rise further in 2019, Chief Executive Oscar Gonzalez said.
** A plan to acquire Singapore's United Engineers Ltd by Yanlord Land Group and Perennial Real Estate Holdings that valued the century-old property group and a stake in a subsidiary at $1.4 billion has failed on low shareholder acceptance.
** A.P. Moller-Maersk has agreed a $1.71 billion deal to sell its oil tanker division to its controlling shareholder, who in turn will enter an ownership consortium with Japan's Mitsui & Co.
** Luxottica and Essilor have not offered any concessions to allay EU antitrust regulators' concerns over their proposed 46-billion-euro ($55.2 billion) merger, increasing the possibility of a lengthy EU investigation into the deal.
** Finland's Fortum is in advanced talks to buy for 3.8 billion euros ($4.6 billion) German utility E.ON's remaining stake in Uniper UN01.DE, the power stations and trading business which it spun off last year.
** German energy company Uniper, whose biggest shareholder is E.ON, said it had not invited a bid by Finnish state-controlled peer Fortum.

** Hong Kong-based insurer AIA Group Ltd is close to acquiring Commonwealth Bank of Australia's (CBA) insurance business which is likely to be valued at nearly $4 billion, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
** Sika's Chief Executive, Paul Schuler, wants to accelerate the Swiss industrial and construction chemicals maker's acquisition drive with more and bigger deals in the next 15 months.
** Bally slot machines owner Scientific Games Corp said it would buy Canada's NYX Gaming Group Ltd for about C$775 million ($632 million), including debt, expanding its existing digital gaming and online gambling portfolio. (Compiled by Anirban Paul in Bengaluru)