The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 1345 GMT on Monday:
** German publisher Axel Springer SPRGn.DE said that its Stepstone jobs portal had bought an 85% stake in Appcast, a U.S. technology company specialising in so-called programmatic advertising, for around 70 million euros ($79 million).
** Performance Food Group Co said it would buy privately held rival Reinhart Foodservice LLC in a deal valued at $2 billion, as the foodservice distributor looks to build scale and expand its geographic reach.
** Canada's Brookfield Asset Management Inc and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC agreed to buy U.S. freight railroad owner Genesee & Wyoming Inc for about $6.4 billion in cash.
** U.S. chip gear maker Applied Materials Inc agreed to buy Japan's Kokusai Electric for $2.2 billion in cash from investment firm KKR & Co Inc , as it bets on rising demand for memory chips.
** FWD Group is acquiring the life insurance business of Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) for 92.7 billion baht ($3 billion) in Southeast Asia's biggest insurance M&A deal, broadening a rapid Asian expansion by the Hong Kong-based firm.
** Lonza Group is buying a drug bottling plant from Novartis in northern Switzerland as the Swiss drug ingredients maker fills a gap in its offering for drugmakers seeking to outsource production.
** French aeronautics company Latecoere said it would examine a 365 million euros ($414 million) takeover offer from investment firm Searchlight Capital.
** Fund manager Glennmont Partners will take a 25% stake in the Gode Wind 1 project off the coast of Germany, it said, marking its first investment in offshore wind.
** Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co and state-owned JOGMEC are still in talks with trading firm Mitsubishi Corp over the latter joining a venture that will take a stake in Russia's Arctic LNG-2 project, Mitsui said.
** Cembra Money Bank is expanding in Swiss consumer finance by buying Cashgate from Aduno Holding AG for 277 million Swiss francs ($282 million) as the domestic market for personal loans and auto leases and loans consolidates. P
** Port operator DP World Plc will buy Topaz Energy and Marine Limited for $1 billion from Standard Chartered and Renaissance Services, DP World said.
(Compiled by Sayanti Chakraborty in Bengaluru) ((Sayanti.Chakraborty@thomsonreuters.com; +1-646-223-8780; Reuters Messaging: sayanti.chakraborty.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))
