VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Swatch Group, the largest maker of watches by sales, has acquired Harry Winston's jewelry arm for a total consideration of $750 million. The acquisition also includes assumption of the jewelry arm's net debt of about $250 million.

Rogers Communications Inc will be acquiring Shaw Communications' Mountain Cablevision Ltd.

Louis Dreyfus Commodities is planning to buy about 13 percent stake in Namoi Cotton Co-operative Ltd.

Following possible buyout reports with private equity firms, shares in Dell surged about 13 percent.

Transocean Ltd disclosed on its website that Carl Icahn acquired 1. 56 percent of stake in the company.

The Federal Reserve noted a sharp increase in borrowing loans from banks in November. The borrowing figures increased by $16 billion when compared to October.

American Express to cut 5,400 jobs this year.

Dish has made a $2.28 billion offer to Clearwire, which is higher than Sprint Nextel's $2.2 billion offer.

Reports suggest shares of the carrier dropped by 0.4 percent to 3, 765 yen at the close of Tokyo trading, a biggest decline since Dec. 28, Boeing shares fell 2.7 percent.

Cerberus Capital Management LP plans to reduce its stake in Japanese mid-sized lender Aozora Bank Ltd bringing down its stake in the bank from 58 percent to 7.7 percent.

The Hutchinson 3G Austrai-Orange Austria deal, valued at $1.7 billion (1.3-billion-euro), received European and Austrian regulatory approval, giving H3G the opportunity to push ahead with its plan to build a nationwide LTE network in the country.

With rise in demand for car-sharing services in the U.S., Avis Budget Group Inc. has decided to buy out car-sharing company Zipcar Inc. for estimated $500 million.

Qatar-based cable news channel Al Jazeera has reportedly taken over U.S.-based news and opinion channel Current TV for estimated at $500 million.

Sustained economic crisis in Europe has pushed ArcelorMittal into deeper debt, prompting the steel major to hive off 15 percent of its stake in ArcelorMittal Mines Canada.

A consortium of private equity (PE) firms comprising the Carlyle Group, Stone Point Capital, Pictet & Cie and Edmond de Rothschild Group have struck a deal to buy financial advisory and investment banking firm Duff & Phelps Corp for about $665.5 million.