VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Two foreign investments in Chinese financial institutions this month suggest China will not turn away cash from countries it has taken diplomatic or trade measures against after blaming them for interference in its domestic affairs.

International hedge funds are increasingly targetting troubled firms in Australia, from cotton or macadamia farms to cattle stations and vineyards, expecting a nascent distressed debt market to generate double-digit returns.

Textron Inc., the maker of Cessna planes, reportedly agreed to takeover aircraft manufactured Beechcraft Corporation for $1.4 billion. Beechcraft has put up itself for sale after emerging from a bankruptcy protection earlier this year.

Vodafone Group has agreed on a domination agreement with Kabel Deutschland a few months after purchasing the German cable company for €7.7 billion. Domination agreements are used in Germany by acquirers who wish to gain full control of the company without controlling all the shares.

Turin, Italy-based car maker Fiat SpA restarted negotiations to purchase the remaining shares of US-based auto manufacturer Chrysler Group LLC, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Hamilton, Bermuda-based global commercial property firm Brookfield Property Partners LP increased its offer to buy New York, US-based firm Brookfield Office Properties Inc by $1 per share after a bid evaluation.

London-based global advertising firm DraftFCB has acquired independent creative agency Inferno in a takeover transaction that could give the agency a market valuation of £20 million.

Sprint chairman and SoftBank chief executive Masayoshi Son was reportedly meeting senior bank executives in New York. Sources said that banks are readying proposals for financing a bid by Sprint Corp. for T-Mobile US.

The Max's Group of Companies has bought Philippine-based casual dining chain operator Pancake House Inc prior to the former's local stock market debut, in a deal valued at almost PHP3.9 billion.

Software company Dealertrack Technologies will buy out online marketing and sales provider Dealer.com for $1 billion. Dealertrack will pay $620 million in cash and $373 million in stock.

Ontario, Canada-based tech giant IBM is acquiring California, US-based bootstrapped file transfer firm Aspera to provide its clients with a file transfer tool for data from social media and various devices.

Jones Group on Thursday announced that it will be bought by private equity firm Sycamore Partners for $2.2 billion, including the assumption of its debt. Sycamore valued Jones Group shares at $15 apiece.

BASF SE, the largest chemicals company in Germany, is working on a bid for RWE DEA AG. DEA is the oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) unit of German electric utilities company RWE AG.

Germany-based healthcare and agricultural products company Bayer said it will be buying Norway-based Algeta, its partner in developing a prostate cancer therapy, in a deal worth $2.9 billion, Bloomberg reported.

US-based private equity firms Carlyle Group and KKR & Co and Australian investment firm Archer Capital have advanced in the sale of Transpacific Industries Group's waste management business. The three firms are working with banks to put together loan packages to back their bids.