Adds: Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Updates: WH Smith, KKR
March 28 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 1330 GMT on Friday:
** U.S.-based private equity firm KKR
KKR.N
and Japanese state-backed fund Japan Investment Corp (JIC) will acquire medical gear maker Topcon
7732.T
in a tender offer buyout worth 348 billion yen ($2.3 billion), KKR said.
nL2N3QB09F
** WH Smith
SMWH.L
is to sell its more than 230-year-old British high street business to Hobbycraft-owner Modella Capital for 76 million pounds ($98 million) to focus on global travel retail.
nL3N3QB0IH
** Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, a subsidiary of MS&AD, has entered into an agreement to purchase 15% of the outstanding common stock of WR Berkley.
nL6N3QB0H8
** Nippon Steel 5401.T and U.S. Steel X.N are in active talks about a deal that would preserve their $14 billion merger and secure billions more in investments from the Japanese steelmaker into Rust Belt facilities, Semafor reported on Thursday.
nL3N3QA1V9
** China-based Ninestar Corp 002180.SZ plans to sell printer and printing software maker Lexmark International II to Xerox XRX.O in a deal with an equity value of up to $150 million.
nL2N3QB02F
(Compiled by Rajarshi Roy and Padmanabhan Ananthan in Bengaluru)
((Padmanabhan.Ananthan@thomsonreuters.com))