VENTURE CAPITAL POST

French automobile manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroen is nearing a €3.5 billion share sale deal with Chinese carmaker Dongfeng Motor Co. and the government of France. Under the terms of the deal, Dongfeng and the French state will each hold a 20% stake in Peugeot.

Luxury fashion house Chanel has acquired the Bodin-Joyeux tannery based in Levrous, France, in a bid to maintain the world-class quality of the fashion company's leathers.

Total, Europe's third-biggest oil company, will purchase a 61.3% stake in InterOil Corp.'s liquified natural gas project in Papua New Guinea. The acquisition deal is worth USD3.6 billion.

French building materials business Materis is reportedly in an advanced stage of negotiations to sell its business unit Kerneos. Investment firm Astorg Partners will acquire Kerneos for EUR610 million.

The Chinese government on Thursday cleared the USD1.3 billion car-making joint venture between Dongfeng Motor Group and France's Renault. Under the deal, the two companies will manufacture 150,000 multi-purpose vehicles annually.

Ireland's Ryanair on Tuesday announced that it won't participate in Italian airline Alitalia's EUR300 million emergency cash call. Other carriers including Lufthansa, Etihad Airways, Aeroflot and Alitalia shareholder Air France-KLM have also turned down the deal.

La Redoute chief executive Nathalie Balla and Redcats finance chief Eric Courteille have reportedly made a joint bid to acquire Kering's loss making mail order business La Redoute.

ONGC Videsh Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's overseas arm, has bid for 3 out of 13 Sri Lankan oil and gas blocks in the Mannar basin.

France will move closer towards relaxing restrictions on Sunday opening for shops when a government-commissioned report on proposed reforms is released on Monday.

UK-based advertising firm M&C Saatchi divested a controlling stake of 75.1% in Walker Media for GBP36 million. M&C Saatchi sold its holding to French multinational advertising and public relations company Publicis.

France's two largest petroleum and electric utility firms are vying to develop two 500-megawatt wind projects near Le Treport in France. The French government opened the bidding earlier this year to attract investments of about EUR3.5 billion.

Burger King Worldwide Inc. formed a joint venture with Bertrand Holding Co. and Naxicap Partners to open new stores in France in the first half of next year. Burger King returned to the country last year, opening three stores with Italian restaurant operator Autogrill.

France's Accor on Wednesday announced a plan to break up the hotel group in order to improve its performance and shareholder returns. Accor, the largest hotel group in Europe, owns luxury and upscale brands such as Sofitel and The Sebel.

China's mobile-based taxi booking service Kuaidadi confirmed it recently received a USD100 million investment from Alibaba, and has acquired a Shanghai-based taxi booking app called Dahuangfeng.

According to a research study by Dow Jones & Company, Ireland attracted the most venture capital funding per capita in the European region. The data showed that most Irish tech startups have fared well even during the economic recession.