Volkswagen is in the driver’s seat in the European truck market, with news it will take majority control of Swedish truck maker Scania in a $4 billion deal. The move to buy out Sweden’s Wallenberg family ends a paralyzing stalemate over the future of Scania since it rejected a hostile takeover offer early last year from German rival MAN, in which VW owns 30 percent. “Wallenberg’s move clears the way for a merger between MAN, Scania and VW’s Brazilian heavy truck activities,” analysts at Cheuvreux said in a note. “We estimate the synergy potential from the merger between MAN and Scania of 8.4 billion euros (before financing costs). The structure of a merger, however, remains uncertain.”

United Technologies Corp has made a $2.64 billion bid for automated teller machine maker Diebold Inc. UTC, the world’s largest maker of elevators and air conditioners, said Diebold would make an “excellent fit” due to its “strong market position, U.S. footprint, and balance between product and service revenues.” The $40-per-share cash offer marks a 66 percent premium to Diebold’s closing stock price of $24.12 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. Based on Diebold’s roughly 66 million shares outstanding as of May 7, the deal is valued at $2.64 billion. Diebold management may well resist. They’ve turned away overtures from UTC for two years. Diebold has been under scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission for its revenue recognition practices. Its shares have fallen 47 percent over the past year.

U.S. private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management will pay up to $416 million to raise its stake in Japan’s Aozora Bank Ltd to nearly 46 percent, a little more than a month after the midsize lender cut its earnings outlook on subprime losses. Cerberus will pay as much as 42.9 billion yen ($416 million) to boost its holding from almost 38 percent now, Aozora said in a statement, adding that it supported the bid. The increased investment mirrors a similar move by U.S. buyout firm J.C. Flowers & Co LLC. Flowers, which revived Aozora rival Shinsei Bank, recently returned to that bank as its top shareholder. Aozora, Japan’s 16th-largest bank by market capitalization, said in a statement that the deal would help it better weather the global market downturn.

Australian miner Oxiana Ltd has launched an agreed A$6.1 billion ($5.7 billion) takeover offer for Zinifex Ltd, looking to diversify to benefit from booming global minerals demand. The deal comes in the shadow of BHP Billiton’s $147 billion offer for rival Rio Tinto Ltd, and Vale’s $90 billion offer for Xstrata. Consolidation in global miners is driven by expectations of continued strong demand for base metals from China and India as the two Asian economies grow rapidly.