UPDATE 3-Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions

                                
 ** The family of late German billionaire Adolf Merckle is
preparing to divest its generic drug maker Mepha, Mepha said,
confirming what two sources close to the matter previously told
Reuters. [ID:nLJ682862]
                                
 ** Stockbridge Real Estate Funds is considering making a
takeover bid for the management of a $2.6 billion real-estate
fund run by Deutsche Bank AG's <DBKGn.DE> <DB.N>
real-estate-investment unit, the Wall Street Journal said.
[ID:nBNG451788]
                                
 ** British oil company Venture Production <VPC.L>, fighting
off a $2 billion bid from Centrica <CNA.L>, held out the
prospect of strong growth by acquisition when it unveiled a
small drop in first-half profit. [ID:nLJ511365]
                                
 ** Sweden's Vattenfall [VATN.UL] denied a newspaper report
it may make a public offer for shares in Polish Enea <ENAE.WA>
to prevent Poland from selling control of the utility to RWE AG
<RWEG.DE>. [ID:nLJ581419]
                                
 ** British public relations company Huntsworth Plc <HNTS.L>
said it agreed to acquire Swedish public relations company Sund
Kommunikation i Malmo AB to expand its corporate communications
network in Scandinavia. [ID:nBNG458488]
                                
 ** Macquarie Group Ltd <MQG.AX>, Australia's top investment
bank, agreed to buy U.S. asset manager Delaware Investments for
$428 million in cash, continuing a trend in consolidation in
the fund management business. [ID:nSYD484833]
                                
 ** Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom <GAZP.MM> is likely
to cede control of the huge Kovykta gas field in eastern
Siberia to a state holding company, a Russian newspaper
reported citing unnamed sources.[ID:nLJ538592]
                                
 ** Qatar Shipping Co <QSHP.QA> (Qship), which is merging
with Qatar Navigation <QNNC.QA>, plans to take advantage of
falling prices in the maritime sector to buy ships and
companies during the next 18 months, its CEO said.
[ID:nLJ385814]
                                
 ** Troubled lender Amcore Financial Inc <AMFI.O> said its
Amcore Bank unit will sell two branches, its second in a span
of less than 10 days, to Union Bank & Trust Co of Evansville,
Wisconsin, to improve profitability. [ID:nBNG417990]
                                
 ** NewStar Financial Inc <NEWS.O> said it has terminated
its agreement to acquire Southern Commerce Bank N.A., as it had
become unlikely that its applications would be approved on
terms that would allow it to achieve its objectives.
[ID:nBNG150753]
                                
 ** Israeli conglomerate Africa Israel Investments
<AFIL01.TA> said the completion of a deal to sell its 50
percent stake in the Gottex swimwear firm to its joint venture
partners had been delayed. [ID:nLJ97704]
                                
 ** Israeli conglomerate Delek Group <DELKG.TA> said its
board had approved a $218 million investment in Noble Energy
Inc <NBL.N>, which could amount to a two percent stake in the
U.S. company. [ID:nLJ18055]
                                
 ** Delta Electronics (Thailand) PCL <DELT.BK> expects to
clinch the acquisition of a U.S. electronic component maker in
the second half of this year and to build a fourth Indian
assembly plant, a director said. [ID:nBKK49890]
                                
 ** A consortium led by financial services executive Gerald
Ford, and includes several private equity firms, submitted a
bid for troubled bank Guaranty Financial <GFG.N>, despite
uncertainty over U.S. regulation guidelines, sources familiar
with the matter said. [ID:nN18439447]
                                
 ** Shareholders of Pulte Homes Inc <PHM.N> and Centex Corp
<CTX.N> approved the merger of their companies by wide margins,
paving the way for the creation of the No. 1 U.S. home builder
to overtake D.R. Horton Inc <DHI.N>. [ID:nN18431444]