VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Telecoms group Altice SA (ATCE.AS) has agreed to buy the Portuguese operations of Brazil's Grupo Oi (OIBR3.SA) for about 7.4 billion euros ($9.2 billion), in what will be its third large acquisition this year.

Oil prices fell to their lowest in five years on Monday, hit by slowing factory activity in China and Europe and hammering emerging market stocks and commodity-linked currencies.

France wants to gradually phase out the use of diesel fuel for private passenger transport and will put in place a system to identify the most polluting vehicles, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Friday.

The European Commission should be able to veto national budgets if they breach the European Union's common fiscal rules, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Friday.

Oil prices, oil-related shares and oil-linked currencies all tumbled in Asia on Friday, in the wake of OPEC's decision to refrain from cutting output despite a huge oversupply.

France's competition watchdog said on Thursday it had given its go-ahead to Numericable's purchase of Virgin Mobile France.Numericable, which is also in the process of buying number 2 mobile operator SFR, agreed in June to buy Virgin Mobile France from owners Britain's Carphone

European privacy regulators want Internet search engines such as Google (GOOGL.O) and Microsoft's Bing (MSFT.O) to scrub results globally, not just in Europe, when people invoke their "right to be forgotten" as ruled by an EU court.

EE's German and French owners confirmed on Wednesday they were in talks to sell Britain's biggest mobile network operator to BT (BT.L) as part of a wider review of its options. Fixed-line operator BT said on Monday it was in talks with both Telefonica's (TEF.MC) O2 and a rival operator about buying a mobile business.

Swiss cement maker Holcim (HOLN.VX) said on Tuesday it expected to have selected buyers for assets it must divest to push through its merger with France's Lafarge LAPF.PA by the end of January.

Estee Lauder Cos Inc (EL.N) bought French luxury perfume brand Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, its third acquisition in less than a month as the company looks to boost its portfolio of high-end luxury perfumes and skin care brands.

General Electric Co's (GE.N) $16.9 billion purchase of the power assets of France's Alstom (ALSO.PA) is on pace for closing in the middle of next year after passing several steps, the head of GE's power business said on Wednesday.

Canadian pension fund PSP Investments and its partners have agreed to buy the French operations of telecoms masts group TDF in a deal worth about 3.5 billion euros (4.40 billion US dollar), people familiar with the matter said.

The French government gave the green light on Wednesday for General Electric's (GE.N) planned 12.4 billion euro ($15.6 billion) purchase of most of Alstom's (ALSO.PA) power business.

France's Danone (DANO.PA), battling local rivals for a larger share of China's booming baby milk market, has invested $550 million in formula maker Yashili International Holdings, further reducing its dependence on slow growth Europe.

The European Commission provisionally accepted the budgets of France and Italy, saying on Tuesday that no euro zone states had submitted deficit plans for next year that seriously breached EU rules for fiscal stability.