Orangina may change hands as Suntory Holdings is talking to the soft drinks maker’s current owners, Blackstone and Lion Capital. Suntory meanwhile is in talks itself to be sold to Kirin Holdings, its bigger rival.  

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.

Japan’s Toshiba Corp (6502.T) is lining up a bid for French nuclear group Areva’s (CEPFi.PA) power grid that could be worth over $5 billion according to Reuters sources.

The private banking assets of Dutch bank ING (ING.AS) are the subject of up to five bids which may reach $2 billion, sources familiar with the deal said. Swiss firm Julius Baer (BAER.VX) and Singapore’s DBS (DBSM.SI) have been identified to Reuters as definite bidders in the process.

For more from Reuters on the latest deals, click here.

Below is a round-up of all the market chatter from the press on Friday:

* AIG (AIG.N) will likely now announce the buyer of its Taiwan Nan Shan Life unit at the end of September instead of on Friday, Chinese-language newspaper Commercial Times reported, after potential buyers bid below the $2 billion the insurer had hoped for.  

* UK specialist insurer Pension Corporation is eyeing a third capital-raising round of up to 400 million pounds ($652.7 million) from new and existing investors, the Financial Times reported.

* French carmaker Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA) is mulling an alliance with Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors Corp (7211.T), French daily La Tribune reports.

* Prudential Financial Inc (PRU.N) put its South Korean brokerage unit up for sale in a deal worth up to $800 million as part of the U.S. group’s restructuring, the Maeil Business Newspaper reported.

* Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) is in talks to buy a unit of Mesirow Financial in a bid to expand in the hedge fund industry, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the deal.

* Montreal’s La Presse daily newspaper, the biggest French-language broadsheet in North America, is threatening to cease publication on Dec. 1, the Canadian Press reported.

Japanese firm Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co Ltd (4506.T) agrees a $2.7 billion to buy Sepracor Inc (SEPR.O). Dainippon will acquire a 1,000-strong sales force and drugs to treat insomnia and epilepsy from U.S.-based Sepracor.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO.N) has agreed a 330 million euro purchase of German firm Brahms, a manufacturer of disease diagnosis tests. Thermo Fisher, which makes scientific instruments, said the deal would open up promising opportunities for commercialising new patents.

For more on this and the latest Reuters deals news, click here.

And here’s a round-up of deal-related stories from Thursday’s press:

* French IT services group Atos Origin (ATOS.PA) is in advanced talks to buy Italian electronic payment company SIA-SSB, La Tribune reported.

* The UK market regulator, the FSA, is stress-testing plans by banking group Lloyds (LLOY.L) to raise 10 billion pounds ($16.17 billion) and reduce its dependence on a state-backed toxic debt insurance scheme, the Daily Telegraph reported.

* Major shareholders of insurer RSA (RSA.L) would back plans by the company’s chief executive to raise $1 billion via a rights issue, the Daily Telegraph reported, citing some of the insurer’s largest institutional investors.

* Pfizer (PFE.N), the world’s largest drug company, may pay up to 1 billion reais ($525 million) to buy Brazilian generic drugmaker Neo Quimica, stepping up smaller acquisitions in fast-growing emerging markets, newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo said.

* Second-round bids for a majority stake in the Travel Channel have come in substantially ahead of early expectations with unforeseen private equity interest adding to demand from media companies, the Financial Times reported.

* General Motors Co expects the governments of Spain, Britain and Poland will provide it with 1 billion euros ($1.43 billion) in aid for its European Opel unit, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Oracle Corp’s (ORCL.O) acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc. (JAVA.O) could be delayed by up to four months if the European Commission’s antitrust authority decide to launch an investigation into the $7.4bn deal. US authorities cleared the sale last week, but the EC is concerned over Oracle gaining ownership of the MySQL database product, sources familiar with the situation tell Reuters.

For this and the rest of the latest deals news from Reuters, click here.

And here’s a round-up of other deals news reported in the press on Wednesday:

* The Cosmen-CVC Capital Partners consortium bidding for bus and train operator National Express (NEX.L) is looking for ways to make its offer more attractive, the Financial Times said.

* The telecoms tower unit of Indian mobile operator Reliance Communications Ltd (RLCM.BO) has revived its initial public offer plan and is looking to raise up to 50 billion rupees ($1 billion), the Business Standard reported.

* Chinese industrial gas provider Yingde Gases plans to raise up to $300 million in an initial public offering in Hong Kong, competing with other listing hopefuls, a Hong Kong newspaper reported.

* Luxury sportscar maker Koenigsegg is close to securing the financing needed to carry out its purchase of Saab Automobile from General Motors, a Swedish business daily reported.

* Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) has won backing from its investors to raise 10 billion pounds ($16.3 billion) to reduce its dependence on the taxpayer, The Guardian reported.

Portugal Telecom <PTC.LS> and Spanish firm Telefonica <TEF.MC> have both agreed to sell their 32.2 percent stakes in Moroccan telecoms firm Meditel to local investors in a deal likely to be closed by the end of the year

Reports suggest that online telephony firm Skype is set to be sold to private investors by its current owner eBay, with further details likely to be announced today. Sources indicated to the New York Times that co-founder of Netscape, Marc Andreessen is among the group of investors.

For the latest news from Reuters on mergers and acquisitions click here.

Here are some of the stories reported in today’s press (some external websites may require subscriptions):

* Belgian bancassurer KBC <KBC.BR> may sell its Polish insurer Warta, which it values at 1 billion zlotys ($348.4 million), Polish daily Parkiet reported without naming its sources.

* State-owned China Development Bank has set up an investment arm with 35 billion yuan ($5.1 billion) in registered capital which will focus on private equity deals, the official Financial News reported on Tuesday.

* Japanese investment bank Nomura (8604.T) has secured a rental deal on its new London headquarters allowing free rent for almost six years, the Financial Times reported.

* The Canary Wharf Group (CYWHF.PK) is looking at new purchases and development opportunities after its majority stake owner, Songbird Estates (SBDb.L), secured an 836 million pounds recapitalisation, the FT reported.

* Bank of America (BAC.N) is offering to repay part of the U.S. government bailout money, starting with the $20 billion it received in January to help with the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website.

Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross says he plans to invest further in banks, but new capital requirements for private equity investment in the sector are still too tight. Meanwhile, a senior German government official says Opel has the liquidity to operate until next year, as a rift appears to develop in the ruling party over whether the General Motors Co unit should be sold to Canada’s Magna International (MGa.TO).

For more on these stories, and the rest of the latest deals news from Reuters, click here.

Here’s what else we found in the papers (some external links may require subscriptions):

* Main shareholders in the British bus and rail operator National Express (NEX.L) have indicated that they will continue to back a rights issue plan instead of a revised takeover offer, the Financial Times says.

* Two Chinese industry groups will kick off IPOs worth more than $2.5 billion in Hong Kong soon after they received a green light from the city’s stock exchange, racing to beat a possible market downtrend, the South China Morning Post says.

U.S. banking regulators partially retreat from a much-criticized proposal to impose new rules on private equity investment in troubled banks, aiming to encourage responsible investment in distressed banks. And General Electric Co (GE.N) puts its security business up for sale in an auction that could fetch about $2 billion.

For more on these stories, and the rest of the latest deals news from Reuters, click here.

Elsewhere, there’s lots of buzz this morning about comments from Adair Turner, of Britain’s Financial Services Authority, on how much of what the City does is “socially useless” and how so-called Tobin taxes on transactions may be considered — prompting big pieces in the Guardian and the FT.

Here’s what else we found in the papers (some external links may require subscriptions):

* The $10.5 million pay package for insurer American International Group Inc’s new chief executive Robert Benmosche will likely be approved formally by the U.S. government’s compensation czar Kenneth Feinberg next week, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

* Apple Inc is getting closer to clearing hurdles to allow it to start selling iPhones in China, the Wall Street Journal said.

* China’s sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC) will increase new overseas investment this year by around 10 times from the previous year on signs the global economy has bottomed out, one of the organisation’s top managers said in an interview with Japan’s Asahi newspaper.

The Obama administration pledges to stay out of General Motors’ choice of a buyer for its European Opel unit, while union leaders in Germany put more pressure on the U.S. automaker to make a decision. Meanwhile, Lowe’s Companies Inc (LOW.N), the No. 2 U.S. home improvement chain, is making its first foray outside North America through a joint venture with Woolworths Ltd (WOW.AX), Australia’s largest retailer.

For more on these stories, and all the other latest deals news from Reuters, click here.

And here’s what’s in the papers (some external links may require subscriptions):

* The sale of Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS.L) retail and commercial assets in China has hit a stumbling block that could derail the talks with the preferred bidder, Standard Chartered (STAN.L), the Financial Times reported.

* Britain’s largest free-to-air broadcaster ITV (ITV.L) is weeks away from signing a deal with Hulu, the U.S. video-on-demand venture, to syndicate its content in exchange for equity in the company, the Daily Telegraph said.

* China’s state-owned Shandong Iron and Steel Group, the world’s eighth-largest steel maker, will take a 67 percent stake in Rizhao Iron and Steel, one of the sector’s largest non-state firms, the 21st Century Business Herald reported on Tuesday.

* Chinese supermarket chain Times Ltd’s (1832.HK) majority shareholder has invited bidders to make offers for the retailer, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

* Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) plans to raise its daily production level in Japan in November compared with a year earlier for the first time in 16 months, thanks to a recovery in demand, the Asahi newspaper reported on Tuesday. Reuters story here.

* Austrian bank BAWAG P.S.K., owned by U.S. financier Cerberus Capital, will get a planned 550 million euros ($786.8 million) of state aid in October or November but will have to accept strict conditions, state broadcaster ORF reported. Reuters story here.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says General Motors “urgently” needs to decide on Opel’s future, while specialty drugmaker Warner Chilcott moves to acquire Procter & Gamble’s $3 billion prescription-drug business.

For these stories, and all the rest of the latest deals news from Reuters, click here.

And here’s what caught our eye in the newspapers (some external links may require subscriptions):

* Harvard University’s multibillion-dollar endowment is adopting a strategy of selling off some holdings in hedge funds, private-equity firms and other money managers to bring more money under the control of internal investing staff over the next few years, the Wall Street Journal said.

* Entrepreneur Clive Cowdery’s Resolution (RSL.L) has held early stage talks with Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) over the sale of its Clerical Medical unit, the Mail on Sunday reported, citing an unnamed source.

* Betfair, the world’s largest online gaming exchange, is considering a 1.5 billion pound ($2.5 billion) flotation in the UK, the Sunday Telegraph reported, citing no sources.

* Victor Blank, outgoing chairman of Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L), said the bank’s board was behind the decision to buy HBOS, not the UK government. Sunday Times story here.

* British merchant bank Close Brothers has made a bid for Kleinwort Benson, a private bank being sold by Commerzbank AG (CBKG.DE), the Sunday Times reported, citing no sources.

Bharti Airtel will not sweeten its offer for MTN now that exclusive talks between the two have been extended. Instead, the talks are about administrative issues, permissions and a scheme of arrangements, Bharti Chairman Sunil Mittal told the Economic Times. And the fate of Opel hangs in the balance, with General Motors poised to pick a buyer. Its board will address the topic later on Friday, sources told us.

For these and other stories on deals, click here. And for an overview of what other media are saying, have a look at our daily Market Chatter.