Analysis & Opinion

(Adds Lastminute.com, Jefferies Group, Lafarge, Raiffeisen Bank)

n>Dec 16 (Reuters) — The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2100 GMT on Tuesday:

** Spain’s Repsol SA has agreed to buy Talisman Energy Inc, Canada’s fifth-largest independent oil producer, for $13 billion, showing how the drop in oil prices is pushing energy companies to take the plunge on big M&A deals.

** Royal Bank of Scotland has sold 4.8 billion pounds ($7.5 billion) of Irish property loans to U.S. private equity firm Cerberus, shedding a big chunk of problem loans under its plan to shrink its business in Ireland.

** Olam International Ltd will buy Archer Daniels Midland Co’s cocoa business for $1.3 billion, catapulting the Singapore-based commodities firm into the top tier of global suppliers of chocolate.

** National Australia Bank will sell 1.2 billion pounds ($1.88 billion) of mostly non-performing UK commercial property loans to private equity firm Cerberus Global Investors as it looks to exit its low-return UK business.

** The battle for the assets cement firms Lafarge SA and Holcim Ltd must sell to get the go-ahead for their merger will likely be between three groups, several people familiar with the matter said.

** British mobile phone operator Vodafone Group Plc will get C$850 million ($726 million) in Canadian trade financing to help it buy enterprise services from BlackBerry Ltd. Ottawa said.

** InterContinental Hotels Group, one of the world’s largest hoteliers, has agreed to buy U.S.-focused Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants for $430 million to boost its exposure to the fast-growing boutique hotel sector.

** Buyout fund Permira is in talks to make a possible counter-bid for German wine seller Hawesko AG. two sources familiar with the deal said.

** German utility MVV Energie said Juwi AG has secured new credit agreements of about 300 million euros ($375 million), removing a key hurdle in its plan to buy a majority stake in the renewable group.

** Finnish ship engine and power plant maker Wartsila said it agreed to buy L-3 Marine Systems from L-3 Holding for an enterprise value of 285 million euros ($356 million).

** Canadian power-producer Boralex Inc has offered to buy Enel Green Power’s French business for around $343 million, as the Italian company sheds more of its European business to focus on emerging markets.

** Telecom Italia has proposed to buy infrastructure fund F2i’s controlling stake in Italian fiber optic network provider Metroweb, either in full or part, the phone group’s Chief Executive Marco Patuano said.

** The Stockholm City Court ruled that Swedbank AB’s acquisition of the real estate broker Svensk Fastighetsformedling from Norwegian bank DNB violates Swedish competition law.

** The European Commission has approved the restructuring plan of Slovenia’s state-owned Banka Celje and its merger with Abanka Vipa, saying it was in line with EU state aid rules.

** Switzerland’s ABB Ltd and Hitachi Ltd have set up a joint venture to sell high voltage systems in Japan, looking to benefit from reforms in the electricity industry after the Fukushima disaster.

** Standard Chartered Plc is selling its Hong Kong and Shenzhen consumer finance businesses to a consortium that includes a Chinese state firm, in the biggest asset disposal by the emerging markets-focused lender as part of a restructuring.

** Dutch insurer Delta Lloyd NV has agreed to sell its Belgian banking operations to China’s privately held Anbang Insurance Group for 219 million euros ($273 million).

** Lastminute.com, a company that came to symbolize the rise and fall of Internet firms in the dotcom bubble, is to be bought by Swiss online travel company Bravofly Rumbo Group, for about $120 million, owner U.S. company Sabre Corp said.

** Hungary’s government could merge Budapest Bank (BB) with recently nationalized MKB Bank once its deal to buy BB closes, business daily Vilaggazdasag reported, citing unnamed sources.

** A group led by China’s Insigma has presented a binding offer for AnsaldoBreda, the train maker unit Finmeccanica SpA is selling along with its stake in Ansaldo STS. two sources familiar with the matter said.

** State-owned Swedish utility Vattenfall AB is looking for a quick sale of its German brown coal assets, its continental Europe and UK chief Tuomo Hatakka said.

** Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd has struck the latest in a string of music distribution deals, this time with Sony Music Entertainment, as it teams up with labels to try to develop China’s paid-for music market and curb piracy.

** Private equity firm Abraaj Group said it sold a 21 percent stake in healthcare diagnostics service provider Integrated Diagnostics Holdings ( IPO-INDI.CA ) to emerging markets private equity firm Actis.

** Sweden’s Doro said it was buying Caretech from private equity fund Verdane Capital for an enterprise value of 240 million Swedish crowns ($31.5 million).

** The parent of Canada’s Porter Airlines is nearing the sale of a passenger terminal it operates at Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport, according to three sources familiar with the process.

** South Korean tire maker Hankook Tire Co Ltd is considering partnering with private equity firm Hahn & Co to jointly bid for Halla Visteon Climate Control Corp, an official at Hankook Tire told Reuters, without elaborating.

** Investment bank Jefferies Group LLC, owned by Leucadia National Corp, said it was in talks to sell its commodities and financial derivatives brokerage, which has been struggling with high costs and falling fees.

** Eastern-Europe focused Austrian lender Raiffeisen Bank International is looking to sell Raiffeisen Polbank, Poland’s eighth-largest lender by assets, three market sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

($1 = 0.7996 euros) ($1 = 0.6384 pounds) ($1 = 7.6257 Swedish crowns) (Compiled by Lehar Maan and Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru)