Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions

April 17 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 2000 GMT on Thursday.

(For Reuters columns on deals, click on [DEALTALK])

** GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L) boosted its position in biotech by signing a deal that could be worth up to $600 million with Regulus Therapeutics, taking it into the hot area of RNA technology.

To read the story, please double click on [nL17800800]

** GE Capital said it agreed to acquire most of Citigroup Inc's (C.N) North American commercial lending and leasing business for an undisclosed price, expanding its assets in a key portion of its finance operations. [nN17435409]

** Russian miner and steel maker Mechel (MTL.N) said its $1.5 billion offer to buy Oriel Resources OLR.L had become unconditional after acceptances exceeded the required 90 percent. [nL1721589] (Compiled by Bijoy Koyitty in Bangalore)