When you need some fast cash, you can always count on oil money. Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is reportedly considering backing a share issue by Barclays. You’ll recall that earlier this week Britain’s No. 3 bank said it would sell billions of pounds worth of shares to bolster its stretched balance sheet. The Financial Times quotes a person close to the Qatar Investment Authority as saying “We’re looking at it.” The QIA manages about $60 billion in assets and earlier this year bought under 2 percent of Credit Suisse. Qatar, which is the richest Arab country on a per capita basis thanks partly to high oil prices, is looking to spend between $10 billion and $15 billion over the next two years on bank stakes, Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani told Reuters in February.

Of course, it’s not just the oil-rich out there poking around those struggling banks. Activist shareholder Olivant said on Wednesday it had raised its stake in Swiss bank UBS, which has been hit by massive losses on risky investments, to 2.5 percent. Olivant, headed by former UBS Chief Executive Luqman Arnold, said by taking a stake worth about $1.8 billion it was “demonstrating its belief in the potential restoration of shareholder value achievable through decisive action on the part of the UBS board”. Interpretation: We want change. How about splitting up the bank?

If banks aren’t your thing, there’s always Hollywood. Movie studio DreamWorks SKG is close to a deal with India’s Reliance ADA Group to form a new movie venture, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the talks. The Journal said a deal with Reliance would give movie director Steven Spielberg the cash to finance his DreamWorks team’s departure from Viacom Inc’s Paramount Pictures later this year.

And one from the Ho-Hum, Glad-its-Done Department: Office goods supplier Staples has won approval from the European Commission for its 1.7 billion euro ($2.64 billion) takeover bid for Dutch peer Corporate Express. Staples raised its all-cash offer to 9.25 euros per share from 9.15 euros last week, winning the backing of Corporate Express which also ditched its own deal to buy French privately owned competitor Lyreco.

More Deals of the Day:

** French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis plans to make a 40.04 billion Czech crown ($2.57 billion) offer for Czech drugmaker Zentiva, trumping a bid from financial group PPF.

** German sports-car maker Porsche withdrew and then refiled its request to Brussels to acquire control of Volkswagen, the European Commission said

** Korea Express Co Ltd, the country’s top logistics company, said it had signed a deal to hand its 40 percent stake in a local joint venture to United Parcel Service Inc.

** Sinotrans, the Chinese conglomerate partnered with DHL, is considering merging with the country’s top river-shipping operator to create a national logistics giant, sending shares in its main listed arm up 6 percent on Wednesday.

** India’s Tata Communications Ltd said a unit had signed an equity joint venture with shareholders of China Enterprise Communications Ltd (CEC) to acquire a 50 percent stake in the Chinese firm for an undisclosed amount.

** A U.S. judge authorized bankrupt Canadian printer Quebecor World Inc to sell its European operations to Vadeho, an affiliate of Netherlands-based investment group Hombergh Holdings BV.

** Grey Wolf Inc said it has rejected a higher takeover offer from Precision Drilling Trust, saying the 30 cent increase to $9.30 a share wasn’t enough to convince it to abandon a planned merger.

** Microchip design software maker Cadence Design Systems Inc offered to buy smaller rival Mentor Graphics Corp for about $1.5 billion, but Mentor rejected the bid as too low.

** Grupo Hispania, which owns 3.5 percent of Spain’s Banco Popular, said it was negotiating with a Mexican group to sell its stake in the bank.

** German utility E.ON has gained full control of Endesa Italia after Italian utility A2A said it had agreed a deal for the demerger of the power generator where it would get assets for its 20 percent stake.

** Provident Energy Trust said it has sold its stake in some oil-producing partnerships in the United States to BreitBurn Energy Partners LP for $345 million, and that it will use the cash to cut debt.

** French bank Societe Generale said it had sold its entire 7.8 percent stake in Oman-based Bank Muscat to The Royal Court Affairs of Oman.

** Thailand’s Tisco Bank said it had withdrawn from negotiations to buy a 42 percent stake in rival BankThai after a newspaper report triggered a trading suspension in both stocks.

** Auto parts supplier Johnson Controls Inc moved a step closer to buying the interiors business of bankrupt Plastech Engineered Products Inc for $177 million after no competing bids emerged at an auction on Monday, lawyers said.

** Russian services conglomerate Sistema said it had increased its stake in India’s Shyam Telelink Limited to 73.71 percent from 72 percent.

** The American Stock Exchange said its members overwhelmingly approved the acquisition of the exchange by NYSE Euronext Inc, paving the way for the deal to close as early as August.

** L’Oreal, the world’s biggest beauty group, won European Commission clearance to buy the YSL Beaute cosmetics firm from French retailer PPR for an enterprise value of 1.15 billion euros ($1.78 billion).

** ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, said it would consider buying Turkish steelmaker Erdemir, lifting its shares.

** Power and telecom towers maker Sujana Towers Ltd said it had bought 51 percent in Mauritius-based Telesuprecon Ltd, which executes telecom infrastructure projects in east and central Africa.

** Microsoft Corp said it had purchased privately held digital television advertising technology company Navic Networks. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

** Analysts expect CME Group Inc to do what it takes to nail down its planned acquisition of NYMEX Holdings Inc, even if that means bowing to pressure to sweeten the purchase price.

** A merger between Germany’s Commerzbank and Dresdner Bank may be attractive even if the latter’s troubled investment bank were thrown into the bargain, analysts said.

** SAP, the world’s leading maker of business software, has agreed to buy Visiprise, a small U.S. company that makes software to help manufacturers control operations, manage compliance and improve quality.

When at first you don’t succeed, raise, raise again. Another upped bid from Staples convinced Corporate Express management to back the unsolicited offer. The resweetened bid for the Dutch firm was 1.7 billion euros ($2.65 billion), or 9.25 euros per share, from the 9.15 euros it offered last week and a fair bit above the 7.25 euros it offered in February. Corporate Express’s defensive play for French competitor Lyreco has been scrapped (for a tidy 30 million euro breakup fee).

Oil major BP accused its Russian partners of staging a boardroom coup at their 50-50 Russian oil joint venture TNK-BP, as the two sides prepared to re-enter negotiations on the future of the company. The Wall Street Journal cites people close to the discussions as saying the talks have already broken down. BP and its Russian partners, a group of four billionaires united in the Alfa-Access-Renova consortium, have been locked in a long-running conflict over strategy and ownership at the company. Mounting pressure over recent months on the troubled oil firm, including tax probes, raids on offices and the arrest of an employee, have led analysts to speculate that a state-controlled energy giant will soon muscle in on TNK-BP.

Sovereign funds may not be thrilled with their investments in beleagured US banks, but they don’t seem too put off by the battered property market. The New York Post reports that the Abu Dhabi Investment Council is negotiating to buy a 75 percent stake in New York City’s landmark Chrysler Building for $800 million. The paper cited sources as saying the assets would be purchased from TMW, the German arm of an Atlanta-based investment fund. This follows last month’s deal in which a group led by Boston Properties is buying the GM Building and three others from Macklowe Properties for $3.45 billion. The Post said investors in that deal included the wealth funds of Kuwait and Qatar.

Other deals of the day:

* Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo said it aims to buy a stake of more than 50.1 percent in India’s biggest generic drug maker Ranbaxy in a deal worth 147.4-198 billion rupees ($3.4-4.6 billion).

* SK Telecom, South Korea’s top mobile operator, denied market talk that it was seeking to buy local set-top box maker Humax.

* Norway’s government has bought 700,000 more shares in energy group StatoilHydro as part of its long-term plan to boost its stake to 67 percent from 62.5 percent, the company’s share registry showed.

* Software services firm 3i Infotech said it has acquired 51 percent in Mumbai-based software solutions firm Fineng Solutions, with an option to buy the balance later.

* Chinese state-owned financial conglomerate CITIC Group offered to buy its small Hong Kong-listed arm CITIC International Financial Holdings for $1.4 billion as part of an earlier-announced deal that would boost Spanish bank BBVA’s toehold in fast-growing Asia.

* Slovenia’s largest household appliances producer Gorenje said it had made its largest ever takeover, but gave no details as it said trading in its shares was being suspended.

* LS Cable signed an agreement to buy Nasdaq-listed wire and cable maker Superior Essex for $900 million or $45 per share in cash, the two companies said.

* Singapore printer SNP Corp shot up 10 percent after it received a takeover offer from Japan’s Toppan Printing, valuing the firm at S$208 million ($151.4 million).

* HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, might consider pulling out of a $6.3 billion deal to take over South Korea’s No. 6 bank, Korea Exchange Bank, its Asia chief said.

* New Zealand casino operator Sky City Entertainment Group said it would raise its stake in the casino in the South Island city of Christchurch after the sale of its stake in a hotel in the city.

Lehman Brothers is looking for fresh capital in South Korea, the Wall Street Journal reports. If the investment bank does end up tapping South Korea, it will have taken slightly over a decade for the 1997 multibillion loan from the IMF, backed by Wall Street and the Federal Reserve, to come full circle. The Journal says Lehman is looking to state-run Korea Development Bank and Woori Financial Group as it searches for funds to ward off a Bear Stearnsian crisis of confidence. The IMF demanded strict economic reforms for its money. A South Korean lender, like the Chinese and Arab investors bailing out Citi and Merrill Lynch, might just want a juicier cut.

The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup — with a side of Smuckers jelly. The maker of Jif peanut butter and Crisco oil said it would buy Folgers from Procter & Gamble for stock valued at $2.95 billion plus the assumption of $350 million in debt. J.M. Smucker & Co also acquired Jif and Crisco from P&G.

Yahoo set its annual shareholder meeting for Aug. 1 in the heart of Silicon Valley, as it braced for a proxy showdown with billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn. Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that Icahn would seek to remove Jerry Yang as Yahoo chief executive, citing the company’s failure to reach a merger or partnership deal with Microsoft. Icahn had proposed an alternate slate of directors for Yahoo’s board, but until now had not directly targeted Yang. “It’s no longer a mystery to me why Microsoft’s offer isn’t around,” the Journal quoted Icahn as saying. “How can Yahoo keep saying they’re willing to negotiate and sell the company on the one hand, while at the same time they’re completely sabotaging the process without telling anyone?”

Novartis has bought privately held biotech company Protez Pharmaceuticals in a deal worth up to $400 million, giving it rights to an antibiotic which could be used to fight superbugs. Protez has a broad-spectrum antibiotic given by injection that is currently in mid-stage Phase II development against drug-resistant infections, and Novartis hopes to submit it for regulatory approval in 2012. The Swiss group will pay $100 million immediately for the business, with a potential for up to $300 million of additional payments depending on the future success of the new drug with the catchy code name: PZ-601.

Corporate Express will open its books to U.S. office supplies retailer Staples, which has made an unsolicited bid for the Dutch office goods wholesaler, Het Financieele Dagblad reports. On Tuesday, Staples raised its offer to 9.15 euros a share, or 1.7 billion euros ($2.65 billion), on the condition that Corporate Express shareholders reject the company’s plan to buy privately owned French peer Lyreco. The paper added that Corporate Express will probably give a neutral recommendation to its shareholders about the bid.

Other deals of the day:

* Australia’s Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory said it and National Foods, owned by Japan’s Kirin Holdings, would jointly pursue a bid for Australian dairy producer Dairy Farmers.

* Chinese metals trader Sinosteel said it has raised its stake in Midwest Corp to 28.37 percent from 19.89 percent as it seeks to take over the Australian iron ore prospector.

* AXA Asia Pacific, unit of French insurer AXA SA, said it would buy the financial planning business of Challenger Financial Group for A$100 million ($95 million) and in exchange for AXA’s annuity portfolio.

Lehman Brothers stock took an early hit on a report in the Wall Street Journal that it may raise up to $4 billion in fresh capital. It’s not clear who might want to buy into the storied brokerage, particularly given the number of top banking heads that have recently rolled down Wall Street. Lehman may issue common stock, diluting current shareholdings, and will probably reveal its capital plans when it reports quarterly results the week of June 16, the report said. Two months ago, the bank sold $4 billion of preferred shares, and in early May, it sold $2 billion of 30-year bonds.

Staples raised its bid for Dutch office supply distributor Corporate Express by about 14 percent to 9.15 euros a share, or $2.65 billion, but in order to secure the deal Corporate Express would have to nix its plan to buy French peer Lyreco. Staples says it has the backing of about 23.3 percent of Corporate Express shareholders. The initial bid was met with a cool response. This time, Corporate Express is blushing a bit more warmly, saying it will carefully review the new offer and make a further announcement in due course. “The 9.15 euros is somewhat higher than we expected. We believe this offer is attractive,” said Rabo Securities analyst Philip Scholte.

China Merchants Bank has agreed to buy control of Wing Lung Bank for $4.66 billion in a deal that will provide China’s sixth-largest lender with greater access to the Hong Kong market. After initially dropping out of the auction, China Merchants Bank returned late in the process to beat front runners Australia and New Zealand Banking Corp and Industrial Bank of China, the world’s largest bank by market value. China Merchants said late on Monday it would pay HK$156.50 a share for a 53 percent stake in Wing Lung, confirming what people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Friday.

Shares in Italian broadband operator Tiscali jumped more than 10 percent after a report that Britain’s Vodafone will bid for the company. Italian daily MF reported that bid will come in the next 24 hours, citing sources close to Vodafone. Although the price was being kept secret, a reasonable bid would be about 2.8 euros a share, the newspaper said. The market is largely buying the article, as shares rose more than 8 percent to 2.5975 euros. Tiscali said in a statement it had not yet set a price for itself and was still in talks with a number of companies.

Other deals of the day:

* Swiss private bank EFG International made its first move into the French market by acquiring French wealth manager Sycomore Gestion Privee for an undisclosed sum, it said.

* Swedish engineering group Alfa Laval said it had bought U.S. heat exchangers maker Standard Refrigeration.

* Indian telecom services provider Spice Communications has been approached by UAE-based Etisalat and others for a stake in the Indian company, chairman B.K. Modi told reporters.

* France’s Groupama denied a newspaper report it had made an offer for Banco de Sabadell’s insurance unit.

* Britain’s Taylor Nelson Sofres and Germany’s GfK have agreed a merger of equals to create the world’s second-biggest market research company with a market value of about $4 billion.

* Metcash, Australia’s largest grocery wholesaler, posted a stronger-than-expected 18 percent jump in full-year profit on strong growth in fresh food sales, and confirmed it has bid for a unit of Primary Health Care.

* Indonesian miner PT Aneka Tambang and its partner, China’s Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet, have raised their offer for Australian-listed Herald Resources, valuing the company at as much as $523 million ($499 million).