Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions

Aug 20 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S., Canadian and Asian companies were reported by 2000 GMT on Monday:

** Talks between struggling retailer Best Buy Co Inc and its founder Richard Schulze over taking the company private have broken down after the company said Schulze had rejected its offer to conduct due diligence.

** Health insurer Aetna Inc said on Monday that it would buy rival Coventry Health Care Inc for $5.6 billion to increase its share of U.S. government-backed Medicare and Medicaid business.

** Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP will sell its stake in a pipeline and related assets in the Rockies for $1.8 billion as part of a settlement with regulators to win approval for Kinder Morgan Inc's $23 billion buy of rival El Paso Corp.

** Gold-focused royalty company Franco-Nevada Corp said it will provide $1 billion to Inmet Mining Corp for the development of its Cobre Panama copper-gold project in Panama.

** Four groups have made bids for RWE's Czech gas transmission system operator Net4Gas, a Czech weekly magazine reported.

A source told Reuters in July that Net4Gas could be worth about 1.4 billion euros ($1.7 billion).

** Norwegian conglomerate Orkla is to buy the family-controlled foods group Rieber & Soen for 5.18 billion crowns ($871 million), paying a 78 percent premium to the market price to expand its core branded consumer goods business.

** Oilfield services provider FMC Technologies Inc will buy Pure Energy Services Ltd for about C$282 million ($285 million) in cash to expand into the business of providing equipment that can recover drilling fluid from shale wells.

** Israel's Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings agreed to sell its subsidiary Clal U.S. Holdings Inc for $221 million to Nebraska-based National Indemnity Co, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

** Polish wind power and biomass fuels firm PEP has welcomed a takeover bid by Jan Kulczyk, Poland's richest man, saying on Monday the 671 million-zlotys ($203 million) offer reflected the fair value of the company put up for sale earlier this year.

** Spice maker McCormick & Co Inc said it will buy privately held Wuhan Asia-Pacific Condiments Co Ltd (WAPC) for about 900 million yuan ($141.5 million) to expand its business in China.

** Hospital operator Kindred Healthcare Inc will buy privately held IntegraCare Holdings Inc for $71 million in cash to expand its home health and hospice business in Texas.

** Japan's Sumitomo Corp is to acquire the Australian unit of New Zealand's frozen bread dough maker Yarrows for 4 billion yen ($50.40 million), the Nikkei business daily reported.

** DHX Media Ltd, which produces entertainment shows for kids, said it will buy privately held Cookie Jar Entertainment for C$46 million ($46.6 million) in cash and stock to help it expand its content library by more than three times.

** British airport operator BAA on Monday said it would proceed with the sale of London's Stansted airport after deciding not to challenge a Competition Commission (CC) ruling forcing it to sell the airport.

** Norway's Telenor said it has no plans to sell shares in Vimpelcom to achieve equal ownership with Russian co-investor Alfa-Group, which it says already has effective control over more shares in the mobile phone operator.

** Liberty Media Corp filed a new application on Friday with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission saying it plans to take full control of Sirius XM and its board by increasing its stake in the satellite operator above 50 percent.

** Korea Life Insurance Co Ltd is unlikely to pursue the purchase of Dutch insurer ING's Southeast Asian life insurance operations, a spokesman for the Korean firm's parent, Hanwha Group said.

** Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp said it will buy a 17.1 percent stake in a U.S. next-generation enterprise platform company, Magnet Systems, for $35.4 million in order to enhance service offerings to its mobile enterprise customers.