Following the standard corporate merger playbook, ImClone Systems and its chairman Carl Icahn have called Bristol-Myers Squibb’s $60 per-share takeover offer “inadequate.” Doesn’t it seem like just yesterday Bud brewer Anheuser-Busch was saying the same thing about InBev’s bid?

The two companies have strong links– Bristol already owns about 16.6 percent of ImClone and is seeking to buy the rest. Their relationship has been centered on Erbitux, a drug approved for colorectal and head and neck cancer in the United States and Canada. Now the relationship, like so many other M&A talks, looks like it could turn nasty. No mention of business dealings with Cuba yet, but stay tuned.

Carl Icahn has said he was disturbed that one of ImClone’s directors was also a Bristol designee, leading ImClone to look into whether Bristol got confidential information about the company. And now Bristol is claiming it has rights to Erbitux’s successor.

Across the Atlantic, another deal is also on the fast track to acrimony. Germany’s embattled Continental, which makes everything from tires to brakes, is trying to fend off unwanted advances from Schaeffler by seeking a white knight to save the company. Last week Schaeffler launched an $18 billion hostile takover bid.

*Other deals of the day:

** A back-office unit of India’s Essar Group has agreed to buy Los Angeles-based PeopleSupport Inc for about $250 million in an all-cash transaction, enabling the Indian firm to tap fast-growing new outsourcing markets.

** Spanish utility Gas Natural said it had agreed to sell 19.6 percent of its Argentine subsidiary to pharmaceutical group Chemo for $56 million.

** Swedish pharmaceutical firm Meda said it would buy a large chunk of American Valeant’s European operations for $392 million, boosting its presence in Britain and giving it an entry into Russia.

** Australian financial services firm AMP Ltd will pick up 29 percent in the infrastructure unit of construction firm Gayatri Projects Ltd,  the Indian firm said.

** British drugs retailer and wholesaler Alliance Boots announced its first foray into Latin America, saying it had agreed to buy a 25 percent stake in Brazilian pharmaceuticals wholesaler Athos Farma.

** British utility Centrica said it might revive plans to merge with British Energy  after French group EDF’s 12 billion pound ($23.6 billion) bid for the nuclear power firm stalled.

** Newmont Mining Corp <NEM.N> on Monday said it was considering strategic options, including a sale, for its 50 percent stake in Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM), one of Australia’s largest gold mines.

(Corrects value of bid by Schaeffler to $18 billion.)