VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Luxury homes builder Toll Brothers Inc said it would buy the home building business of privately owned Shapell Industries Inc for about $1.60 billion in cash, in a deal that will give the largest U.S. luxury homebuilder more access to affluent real estate markets in California.

France's BNP Paribas confirmed it had placed an unbinding offer to buy Bank BGZ, the Polish subsidiary of Dutch lender Rabobank, BNP said.

Autodesk Inc, a maker of computer-aided design software, said it would buy Britain's Delcam Plc for 172.5 million pounds ($277 million), in a deal to expand the U.S. company's software offerings in the manufacturing sector.

French banks Societe Generale and Credit Agricole agreed to an asset swap in a bid to narrow their business focus as they prepare to woo investors in a tough economic environment. The deal will see SocGen buy its smaller rival's 50-percent stake in their jointly owned Newedge broker for 275 million euros ($372 million). Credit Agricole, meanwhile, will buy 5 percent of their Amundi asset-management venture for 337.5 million.

The world's biggest food group, Nestle, said it was selling its Jenny Craig weight management businesses in North America and Oceania to private equity firm North Castle Partners for an undisclosed sum. The Jenny Craig business in France is not part of the transaction, Nestle said in a statement.