The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 1000 GMT on Friday.

 ** General Motors Co, partly owned by the U.S. Treasury, is seeking to buy international operations from auto lender Ally Financial, which ironically wants to use the proceeds to help repay its own federal bailout aid.

** Struggling U.S. battery maker A123 Systems, which received a $249 million green technology grant from the Obama administration, got a $465 million lifeline from Chinese auto-parts maker Wanxiang Group Corp.

** The Racer Trust, which holds plants that General Motors Co got rid of during bankruptcy, said it would sell the automaker's Mansfield-Ontario stamping plant in Ohio to Brownfield Communities Development Co for an undisclosed amount.

** Former partners of the defunct law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf agreed on Thursday to pay at least $50 million toward a settlement agreement, the minimum amount the firm's advisers had been seeking in order to submit the proposal to bankruptcy court.

The settlement, if approved, could mark the first major recovery for Dewey's creditors, who are owed at least $315 million, according to court filings.

** Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry is seeking to raise its stake in Japanese LCD maker Sharp Corp to about 20 percent from a previously agreed 9.9 percent, the Nikkei business daily reported in its online edition on Friday.

** Irish oil and gas company Petroceltic International Plc will buy Melrose Resources Plc for 165 million pounds ($259.74 million) to strengthen its operations in North Africa, the Mediterranean and Black Sea.

** Heineken NV is negotiating with Fraser and Neave (F&N) about raising its $6 billion bid for full control of the maker of Tiger beer and breweries in 14 countries as it fights against a Thai billionaire for its future in Asia.

** Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP said it and a unit of its general partner Loews Corp L.N have agreed to form a joint venture to buy pipeline transportation company PL Midstream LLC for $625 million in cash, making a foray into the natural gas liquids business.

** South Korea's STX Corp, a builder of vessels used in offshore oil and gas exploration, chose Italian government-owned ship builder Fincantieri SpA as the preferred bidder for its controlling stake in Singapore-listed STX OSV Holdings.

STX has put up for sale its 50.75 percent stake, valued at about $800 million, in STX OSV.

** Singapore's Asia Pacific Breweries (APB), which Dutch brewer Heineken HEIN.AS is trying to take full control of, and Fraser and Neave (F&N) have requested that trading in their shares be suspended pending an announcement.

** Fair Isaac Corp said it acquired cloud-based customer engagement and risk intervention solutions provider Adeptra Ltd for $115 million in cash to expand its mobile offerings.

** Private equity firms Carlyle Group LP and Pamplona Capital Management LP are among a handful of parties weighing bids for Republic Tobacco, a privately held company that makes the Drum brand of loose tobacco in the United States, according to people familiar with the matter.

** Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc I has sold its U.S. fixed annuities business to two subsidiaries of U.S.-based Guggenheim Partners, in a move that should improve the Canadian company's capital levels.

** French media and telecommunications giant Vivendi hired the investment-banking units of Rothschild and Deutsche Bank to gauge strategic options for its GVT phone unit in Brazil, a source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Thursday.

** China National Gold Corp is leading a drive offshore to help meet soaring demand for gold at home by considering a bid for the African unit of Barrick Gold, the world's No.1 producer.

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