Finally, Blackstone Group's Pinnacle Brands Corp is likely to buy U.S. frozen vegetable company Birds Eye Foods for more than $1.3 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

For the latest deals news from Reuters, click here.

Plus a look at other media (some links may require subscription):

Hyundai Motor Co is planning to sell off its stake in affiliate Hyundai Mobis Co in a block trade to comply with antitrust rules, according to online media provider eDaily.

Apollo Management, the private equity firm headed by former Drexel Burnham Lambert executive Leon Black, is planning to list on the New York Stock Exchange, the Financial Times says.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp has entered the race to buy a majority stake in Patni Computer Systems, the latest in a string of potential suitors eyeing India's No. 6 software services firm, the Economic Times says.

The Lehman estate files its long-expected lawsuit against Barclays Capital, according to court documents. And with UBS's investor day and the Euro Finance Week conference in Frankfurt on elsewhere, all eyes are on Europe's banks again.

For all other Reuters stories about deals, click here.

Canon plans to buy Dutch copier and printer maker Oce for $1.1 billion. For these, and other merger Monday stories, click here.

And here's what we found of interest in other media.

U.S. investment bank J.P. Morgan will offer 500 to 525 pence per share to buy out the 50 percent stake it does not already own in its UK stockbroker joint venture with Cazenove, according to media reports, such as in the Financial Times.

UC RUSAL, the world's largest aluminium producer, is close to a deal to restructure $7.4 billion in debt to foreign banks which is crucial for the Russian firm's planned $2 billion IPO in December, the Wall Street Journal says.

Jaguar Land Rover is expected to announce today that it has secured a 170 million-pound ($282.5 million) working capital facility from GE Capital, according to the Financial Times.

Germany's largest steelmaker ThyssenKrupp has sold its U.S. scaffolding unit Safway to Odyssey Investment Partners for an undisclosed price, Handelsblatt newspaper reports.

Elsewhere:

* The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp is questioning the positive conclusions given to Citigroup Inc's management team in a government-mandated review in the aftermath of the financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal says.

* A management buyout of Malaysia's national carmaker Proton Holdings could be possible, the firm's chairman was quoted as saying in the Star newspaper.

The battle for Dutch retailer Super de Boer heats up, with Ahold now showing interest to buy 30 to 50 of its supermarkets. For these and other stories about deals, click here.

And two deal stories in other media:

Citigroup is working on a sale of its commodities unit Phibro in a move that could raise hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the Financial Times.

HSBC would be forced to delay raising its dividend if new capital rules are applied too heavily or too quickly, The Times reports the bank's head of investment banking as saying.

And here's what we found of interest in other media today and over the weekend.

Shoprite Holdings Ltd chairman Christo Wiese is looking to swap some or all of his stake in Africa's biggest grocer for stock in furniture maker Steinhoff, a South African newspaper reports.

Hana Financial Group, South Korea's No. 4 banking group, is seeking to raise 1 trillion-2 trillion won ($853 million-$1.7 billion) in a rights offering, according to media reports.

A U.S.-led consortium has entered the race to buy Volvo from Ford, the Financial Times reports, in a challenge to China's Geely Automotive, which confirmed its interest in the money-losing Swedish carmaker last month.

Chinese steel and iron ore group Baosteel has proposed to pay 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) for a 30 percent stake in Anglo American's  huge Minas Rio iron ore mine in Brazil, according to a report.

British housebuilder Taylor Wimpey  is considering the sale of its North American housing operations, which have been hit hard by the global recession, in a bid to cut debt, the Sunday Times reports.

Barclays Bank Plc is likely to enter exclusive talks this week to buy insurer Standard Life's banking division, the Mail on Sunday reports.

British general insurer RSA has scrapped plans for a $1 billion rights issue to fund major acquisitions and will instead focus on smaller bolt-on buys, the Sunday Telegraph reports.

A Kohlberg Kravis Roberts-led consortium leads the bidding for Northrop Grumman Corp's TASC unit, the Financial Times reports.

For these and other Reuters stories on deals, click here. And for Monday's stories in other media (some of the links may require subscription):

German power giant E.ON is in advanced talks with potential partners to build new solar power plants in Andalusia, southern Spain, its chief executive tells Spanish daily Expansion.

Chinese industrial gas provider Yingde Gases Group aims to raise up to HK$3.58 billion ($462 million) in a Hong Kong initial public offering later this month, a Hong Kong newspaper reports.

Martindale, the UK's leading maker of methadone, has attracted interest from a number of private equity groups, the Financial Times reports on Sunday.

Belgium's KBC has put its London brokerage and corporate finance house KBC Peel Hunt up for sale, with the bank set for a huge loss, UK newspaper the Independent on Sunday said.

Opel in Germany is being sold yet are Volkswagen, Porsche, BMW or Daimler anywhere to be found? Spot the empty parking lot.

Without the Chinese, auto sector M&A right now is about as exciting as a 1981 Yugo.

Some makers still have money though, so what has everybody racing to get away?

Bad experiences, in part.

The last really big deal where two car companies merged was DaimlerChrysler in 1998. It’s best remembered this way: Spent a lot of dimes, did a lot of crying. Disaster and divorce. 

A great article written years after the deal revealed telltale signs of the troubles in store for that marriage when even the order of the name – which should go first – threatened to break up the talks.

But good old fashioned sectoral M&A is being thwarted by something more than good old fashioned fear and loathing. It’s self-loathing. The industry’s top names have already gobbled up the companies they wanted – Jaguar, Lamborghini, Bentley.

U.S. and European makers are all out of love partly because their long established businesses at home are not making the big bucks. What they want now is emerging market growth, China preferred.

Just look at the reform plans of General Motors. Keep Buick, kill Pontiac. This was an astounding choice from a U.S. marketing perspective.

Pontiac has trounced Buick in U.S. sales forever. Cool people drive Pontiacs, or at least people who used to be cool. Burt Reynolds drove a Trans-Am in Smokey & the Bandit in 1977 and the tyres are still hot.

On the other hand, if you have an uncle who wears white shoes and belt and likes to make out he’s well off but isn’t, he drives a Buick.

He’ll tell you it’s just like a Cadillac. And you’ll ask ‘Then why didn’t you buy a Cadillac?’ He’ll try to avoid saying because he couldn’t afford one. And your mother will ask why can’t the family just get along.

But Buick is GM’s big badge in China, and that’s where it is placing its bets. Why aren’t German carmakers buying German carmakers and Americans U.S. ones? Because they don’t want to be in Germany or the United States, they want to grow abroad.

Don’t be fooled by Fiat. Yes it now has a stake in Chrysler, but it came to the table empty handed. The Obama Administration needed a “front” – an industry buyer to feign deep faith in the future of Chrysler – to make it politically feasible for it to fork over the billions in taxpayer money needed to keep the maker of Dodge trucks on life support.

Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne saw this and stepped forward. He similarly had his eye on European government funding when he put up his hand for Opel. You guys pay and I’ll own it. You have to give the guy credit.

It’s tough under such terms to think of these deals as strategic industrial tie-ups, they’re purely opportunistic. And the Germans at least realised this and thought better of doing a deal.

Fiat, not having sold one of its brand in America since 1983, now returns to a vastly different market from the one it fled from in despair.

If they thought it was tough back then, just wait until they try selling in a market where the Japanese have plants churning out cars and trucks across the country and the South Koreans, a complete non-entity before, now sell about 700,000 cars a year.

European whispering about how Fiat might “introduce” small cars to America misses out the last 35 years of change in the U.S. market.

Which is a good place to turn to the Chinese, who currently are not missing out on anything.

By the time Fiat sells its first car in Ohio, Chinese ships will be docking full of smaller, cheaper rival models that will drive Fiat into the weeds. There’s a chance the Chinese ships could outnumber the Fiats that get bought.

The Chinese have taken years gearing up. They bought the UK’s MG-Rover, want GM’s Hummer SUV maker, and are now eyeing an indirect slice of Saab.

More importantly, they have partnered at home with all the big names – VW, Ford, Daimler, GM, Hyundai – and that has fostered expertise that sets up the next phase of growth – exports of their own brands such as Chery, Geely and Changan.

You may not know these names now, but you will soon. No American knew what a Daewoo or Kia was 10 years ago either. The Chinese will put the wind up the Americans, Europeans, Japanese and South Koreans. India also risks being left behind in its similar yet still nascent dream of dominance in the cheap auto export market.

A good rule of thumb is that any nation that can build nuclear plants, rockets and submarines can export a passable hatchback.

Russia hasn’t, that’s true, but China has one critically important advantage – the ardent desire of Western and Asian firms for a slice of the massive Chinese market.

There’s a quid pro quo there that’s likely to clear the way for more Chinese takeovers and their inevitable export push.

U.S. and European companies want partnerships and a nod for access in China, and in return will tell Washington and Brussels it’s cool with them if Chinese firms come knocking.

China’s makers are about to and the appetite of global automakers for Chinese takeaways is already plain to see.

This post was written by Jason Neely.

And Britain's transport group National Express is ready to accept the 765 million pound bid offer from private equity house CVC and the Cosmen family, the Daily Telegraph says.

For these and other Reuters stories on deals, click here. Plus top stories in other media (some links may require subscription):

* U.S. private equity firm Blackstone is in talks to buy a 63 percent stake in Indian agro-chemicals and veterinary drugs maker Gharda Chemicals for about 6.3 billion rupees ($130 million), the Economic Times says.

* Japan's Daiwa Securities Group (8601.T) and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T) are set to announce the end of their investment banking joint venture on Thursday, according to the Kyodo news agency.

* British airline bmi, owned by German flag carrier Deutsche Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), has so far attracted interest from 12 potential buyers, a German newspaper says.

* Mercedes has agreed to take a 75 percent stake in Formula One leaders Brawn GP within the next three years, German magazine Auto, Motor and Sport reports.