VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Germany's top utility E.ON SE (EONGn.DE) has entered exclusive talks to sell its Spanish activities to Australian infrastructure investor Macquarie Group Ltd (MQG.AX), four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

The German medical group Fresenius (FMEG.DE) and the Permira investment fund PERM.UL have made an offer for the medical nutrition arm of Danone (DANO.PA), The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing sources close to the matter.

German business software maker SAP is doing an about-face on its acquisition strategy and plans no more big new deals in the next few years, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

Germany is pressing the European Commission to allow individual EU countries to ban cultivation of crops with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) before the 2015 harvest.

The euro edged higher and European stocks pulled back on Thursday as investors waited to see what message ECB chief Mario Draghi will send after the European Central Bank's monthly meeting, following another run of poor euro zone data.

The euro zone will need another year to reach even a modest level of economic growth, the European Commission said on Tuesday, calling on Germany to help as Chancellor Angela Merkel again rejected a spending spree.

In its autumn forecasts European commission has revised down the growth forecasts for European Union and euro area. The report said, “Annual GDP growth in the EU this year is now projected to be 1.3%, while growth in the euro area is expected to be 0.8%.”

Polish broadcaster TVN TVN.WA and a local unit of German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), T-Mobile Polska, said they have entered a strategic partnership and will offer a subscription video-on-demand service.

Global equity markets slipped on Monday, hit by weak German business sentiment and another decline in oil, while Brazil slumped after incumbent Dilma Rousseff narrowly won a second term over an opponent seen as more pro-business.

German tyre and car parts maker Continental AG (CONG.DE) is looking for an acquisition in the industrial sector, possibly in Asia, and could spend up to 2 billion euros ($2.54 billion), its finance chief told a German newspaper.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel thanked ECB President Mario Draghi for spelling out to leaders at an EU summit that governments must play a role in boosting the faltering euro zone economy, and said it was their firm intention to do so.

Private equity firms are circling Bayer's (BAYGn.DE) 10 billion-euro ($12.7 billion) plastics business, hoping to divert the German drugmaker from its plan to list the division, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Generic drugmaker Actavis Plc and France's Sanofi SA are among the suitors for privately held Omega Pharma NV [COUCKO.UL], Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Asian stocks were cautiously up on Wednesday as benign inflation data in China and more gloom in the euro zone economy lent credence to fears of a faltering global economic recovery.

France and Italy will keep pressure on Germany this week to use government money to revive the euro zone's stagnating economy but in a sign of inertia, a promised list of projects to create growth will not be ready until December.