July 9 (Reuters) – The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Thursday:
** Google may be able to stave off a full-scale EU antitrust investigation into its planned $2.1 billion bid for Fitbit by pledging not to use Fitbit’s health data to help it target ads, people familiar with the matter said.
** Torstar Corp said a private investor group has offered to buy the company, rivaling private equity firm Nordstar Capital’s 63 cents per share bid for the Toronto Star newspaper publisher.
** Electric vehicle maker Fisker Inc is in talks to go public through a sale to a so-called blank-check acquisition company, modeled after a successful deal earlier this year by peer Nikola Corp, people familiar with the matter said.
** Buyout group Apax is preparing the sale of German pharma group Neuraxpharm to try to lock in high valuations in the healthcare sector, fueled by the coronavirus pandemic, sources familiar with the matter said.
** France’s TGV high-speed train maker Alstom offered to sell a French rail factory and make other concessions to win European Commission approval for its planned purchase of Bombardier Inc’s transportation business.
** Japanese casual dining chain Ootoya Holdings rebuffed a takeover move by restaurant group Colowide Co , becoming the latest in a growing list of hostile takeover targets in the country.
** Norwegian software company Opera said it has agreed to purchase Lithuania-based Fjord Bank for an undisclosed sum as it seeks to accelerate a move into mobile financial services.
** U.S. buyout fund Bain Capital said it had extended its deadline for a $1 billion buyout offer for Japanese nursing home operator Nichiigakkan Co for a second time.
Compiled by Shanti S Nair in Bengaluru