Deals of the day-Mergers and acquisitions

Novartis AG

20/03/2026 20:36

Updates Unilever; adds IAG, Commerzbank, Trian Fund Management

March 20 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2130 GMT on Friday:

** Spire Healthcare SPI.L said that buyout talks with private equity firms Bridgepoint BPTB.L and Triton have ended, but it was still in discussions with other parties for a potential sale.

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** Eight states asked a U.S. judge to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the $3.5 billion merger of Nexstar Media Group and Tegna.

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** British Airways-owner IAG ICAG.L is likely to abandon its interest in pursuing an offer for Portugal's flag carrier TAP, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

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** Commerzbank's CBKG.DE CEO Bettina Orlopp told employees that talks with Italy's UniCredit CRDI.MI only make sense once the Italian bank provides it with key points it has in mind for a tie-up deal, according to a transcript of a video message seen by Reuters.

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** Trian Fund Management said it has serious concerns about Victory Capital's sweetened offer for Janus Henderson JHG.N that rivals its own take-private deal with the asset manager.

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** Unilever ULVR.L is in talks to sell its foods business to smaller rival McCormick & Company MKC.N, potentially marking a major shift for the British consumer goods company as it focuses on higher-growth beauty, household and personal care businesses.

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** Ecolab ECL.N said it would acquire CoolIT Systems from KKR KKR.N for about $4.75 billion in cash, as the water solutions firm seeks to capitalize on surging demand for liquid cooling in artificial intelligence-driven data centers.

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** China's ByteDance has agreed to sell Shanghai Moonton Technology, the studio behind popular mobile game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, to a Riyadh-based gaming firm owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the companies said.

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** U.S. consumer health products maker Prestige Consumer Healthcare PBH.N said it would buy the Breathe Right brand and other assets from Foundation Consumer Healthcare in a deal valued at $1.045 billion.

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** U.S. packaging company Silgan Holdings SLGN.N has signaled interest in taking over German medical packaging maker Gerresheimer GXIG.DE, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

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** Talks to sell Thyssenkrupp's  steel division to India's Jindal Steel International are not making progress and the long-awaited deal must not be stalled for months, the German company's deputy supervisory board chairman said.

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** British cross-border payments processor CAB Payments  said that it has rejected the recent all-cash offer from financial services firm StoneX , saying the proposal undervalues the company and its future prospects.

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** Swiss drugmaker Novartis NOVN.S agreed to buy a breast cancer drug candidate for up to $3 billion from U.S. biotech firm Synnovation Therapeutics, adding a targeted therapy to its pipeline of cancer drugs.

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 (Compiled by Rajarshi Roy, Dharna Bafna and Sanskriti Shekhar in Bengaluru)

 ((Rajarshi.Roy@thomsonreuters.com))