Deals of the day-Mergers and acquisitions

Bajaj Finserv

08/01/2026 20:52

Adds Glencore, Merck, American Electric, L Catterton, TKMS, Puma, CrowdStrike ; Updates Paramount

Jan 8 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2100 GMT on Thursday:

** Glencore GLEN.L said on Thursday it was in preliminary discussions with Rio Tinto RIO.L about a possible combination of some or all of their businesses, which could include an all-share merger between the two companies.nL4N3Y91EL

** Merck MRK.N is in talks to buy cancer drug developer Revolution Medicines RVMD.O, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. nL4N3Y91GB

** American Electric Power AEP.O said on Thursday its unit will buy a substantial portion of its option for solid oxide fuel cells in a deal worth about $2.65 billion as part of its plans to develop and build a fuel cell power generation facility. [nL6N3Y90RE]

** Private equity firm L Catterton agreed to buy cottage cheese brand Good Culture on Thursday. The purchase price was more than $500 million, according to sources familiar with the matter. nL6N3Y90UW

** German warship maker TKMS TKMS.DE has submitted a non-binding bid for smaller peer German Naval Yards (GNYK), the company told Reuters on Thursday. nL8N3Y91CG

** China's Anta Sports Products 2020.HK has offered to buy 29% of struggling German sportswear firm Puma PUMG.DE from France's Pinault family, three people with knowledge of the talks said. nL6N3Y90Z3

** CrowdStrike CRWD.O said on Thursday it would buy identity security startup SGNL in a deal valued at $740 million aiming to enhance its cybersecurity tools to help customers counter artificial intelligence-powered threats. nL4N3Y91AJ

** Paramount Skydance on Thursday reiterated that its $108.4 billion bid for Warner Bros Discovery was superior to a rival deal from Netflix, saying the value of the cable spinoff central to the streaming giant's offer was effectively worthless. [nL4N3Y90Z1]

** India's Bajaj Group has acquired a 23% stake in its insurance subsidiaries from Allianz SE  for 213.90 billion rupees ($2.38 billion), group firm Bajaj Finserv  said.nL4N3Y90WG

** Allianz has completed the 2.1 billion euro ($2.45 billion) sale of 23% of the shares in two joint ventures, Bajaj General Insurance Company and Bajaj Life Insurance Company, to Bajaj Promoter Group, the company said.nL6N3Y90R3

** Brown & Brown wholesale unit Bridge Specialty Group announced that it has acquired Pennsylvania-based MGA and wholesale insurance brokerage Shoemaker & Besser.nL6N3Y90QD

** Saudi Arabia's SABIC <2010.SE> has agreed to sell its European petrochemical business and its Engineering Thermoplastics business in Europe and the Americas for a combined enterprise value of $950 million, as part of a restructuring during an industry slowdown.nL6N3Y90DR

** Eli Lilly  will buy autoimmune drug developer Ventyx Biosciences  for $1.2 billion in cash, the companies said on Wednesday, marking the Zepbound maker's latest push to expand beyond its blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss drugs.nL4N3Y81JD

** AbbVie  on Wednesday denied it was in talks to buy Revolution Medicines  after the Wall Street Journal reported the drugmaker was in advanced discussions to acquire the cancer-drug developer.nL4N3Y81GA

 (Compiled by Sahil Pandey and Rajarshi Roy in Bengaluru)

 ((Sahil.Pandey@thomsonreuters.com))