Deals of the day-Mergers and acquisitions

Challenger

25/03/2026 13:39

Adds: NatWest Updates: Merck

March 25 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 1330 GMT on Wednesday:

** NatWest  is selling its human resources advisory business Mentor to private equity-backed Empowering People Group, the British lender said, as it streamlines operations to focus on core banking and wealth management.

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** Merck  said it would buy biotech Terns Pharma  in a deal valued at up to $6.7 billion, as the drugmaker races to bolster its cancer pipeline ahead of the looming patent loss for its blockbuster therapy Keytruda.

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** German private equity fund Aurelius is interested in buying the Belgian unit of French retailer Carrefour , Brussels-based L'Echo newspaper reported, citing unidentified sources.

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** Bain Capital said it would launch an open offer on April 6 to purchase a 26% stake in Indian non-bank lender Manappuram Finance  from public shareholders.

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** Australia's Pepper Money  said it has rejected the takeover proposal from Challenger  as the offer was not "reasonably capable of execution", a week after the bidders lowered the price, citing worsening market conditions.

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** Victory Capital  said on Tuesday it had withdrawn its roughly $8.6 billion proposal to buy Janus Henderson , exiting a drawn-out bidding war hours after Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management and General Catalyst raised their offer for the asset manager.

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 (Compiled by Sahil Pandey and Rajarshi Roy in Bengaluru)

 ((Sahi.Pandey@thomsonreuters.com))