Warren Buffett (pictured), indulging his deal sweet tooth, is reportedly ready to help fund a buyout of chewing gum maker Wrigley by privately held M&M’s maker Mars for more than $22 billion. Both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal carry details of the deal this morning. The Journal suggests Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway would provide financing to Mars and take a stake in Wrigley. A Mars-Wrigley combination would get the industry thinking about Hershey again. Candy giants Wrigley, Nestle and Cadbury have all taken licks, but the Hershey trust - under pressure from the town that Milton Hershey made - has not been able to get behind a deal.

Kirk Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp plans to make a cash tender offer for up to 20 million shares of common stock of Ford Motor at a price of $8.50 per share, a 13.3 percent premium over Ford’s closing stock price of $7.50 on Friday. This would bring the autos investor’s holding of Ford to 120 million shares, or about 5.6 percent of the outstanding shares.

Continental Airlines has called off talks with United Airlines because of United’s weak financial condition and is in “advanced talks” with British Airways and American Airlines about a potential alliance, according to a source. Sources had told Reuters earlier this month that United was in serious merger talks with US Airways. Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines announced plans to merge nearly two weeks ago to become the world’s largest airline and counter skyrocketing fuel prices.

Panasonic maker Matsushita Electric and Sanyo are denying a report in the Yomiuri newspaper that they plan a tie-up of business and capital in what would be the first major reorganization move among Japan’s top electronics makers. Sanyo shares leapt 9.2 percent on the report, which suggested the two could merge in the future, with the main shareholders in struggling Sanyo looking to sell. Matsushita shares rose 1.2 percent, above a 0.9 percent rise in the benchmark Nikkei stock average.

Other deals of the day:

* German telecoms group Freenet has bought Debitel from private equity owner Permira for 1.63 billion euros ($2.54 billion) despite opposition from major shareholder United Internet.

* Dutch property group VastNed Retail said it was in exclusive talks with IEF Capital about its 1.15 billion euros ($1.79 billion) offer for the firm.

* French oil major Total said it had agreed to buy Canada’s Synenco Energy for around 480 million Canadian dollars ($471 million), in a deal that will strengthen Total’s heavy oil portfolio.

* Australian oil firm AED Oil said that the country’s Foreign Investment Review Board has approved the sale of a majority stake in its oil fields to China’s Sinopec Group, sending its shares up more than 11 percent.

* China Coal Energy, China’s second-largest coal producer, said it plans to pay 1.3 billion yuan ($185.5 million) to buy a coal mining company owned by a subsidiary of its parent.

* Blackstone Real Estate Partners, an affiliate of The Blackstone Group, said it would invest $18 million for a minority stake in a construction-management company in India.

* Ireland’s FBD Holdings said its board had rejected an approach from the Netherlands’ biggest insurer Eureko, partly owned by unlisted Rabobank.

* Italy’s leading insurer Assicurazioni Generali would be interested in two insurance units of UK bank RBS if they were up for sale, Chairman Antoine Bernheim said.

* German state bank LBBW has agreed to buy a unit of Cerberus Capital Management’s Austrian bank Bawag for 160 million euros ($249.5 million), an unidentified source in the finance industry told Reuters.