UPDATE 3-Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions
(Adds AIG, Lehman, Lufthansa, Jaguar Financial and others)
Dec 3 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, North American and Asian companies were reported by 2100 GMT on Wednesday.
(For Reuters columns on deals, click on [DEALTALK/])
** Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) is considering launching an Internet bank and has not ruled out acquiring consumer banks, people familiar with the situation said. To read more, please double click on [ID:nN03311917]
** French power company EDF (EDF.PA) unveiled a plan to pay as much as $6.5 billion for 50 percent of Constellation Energy Group Inc's (CEG.N) nuclear business and other assets in an attempt to torpedo a rival offer from investor Warren Buffett. [ID:nN02296254]
** American International Group, Inc (AIG.N) said its financial products unit would sell a 50 percent stake in three joint ventures back to partner Tenaska Energy. [ID:nN03321852]
** A Japanese unit of Prudential Financial Inc (PRU.N) plans to bid for two Japanese life insurers put up for sale by American International Group Inc (AIG.N), people familiar with the matter said. [ID:nT274036]
** Japan's top refiner Nippon Oil Corp (5001.T) and sixth-ranked Nippon Mining Holdings Inc (5016.T) will merge by next autumn to create the world's eighth-largest oil company, the Nikkei business daily reported. [ID:nT286454]
** Debt-laden Telecom Italia, Europe's fifth-biggest telecoms provider, will shed assets worth nearly $4 billion and cut another 5 percent of its workforce in a bid to slash borrowings and costs amid a weak economy. [ID:nL382619]
** BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM.TO) (RIMM.O) said it plans to make a direct takeover offer to Certicom Corp CIC.TO shareholders of C$1.50 a share in cash because it has been unable to advance talks with the encryption software firm's management. [ID:nN03317482]
** Deutsche Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) approved an offer for the whole of Austrian Airlines (AUAV.VI) and agreed to buy a 42 percent stake in the airline from Austrian state holding company OeIAG. [ID:nLR110760]
** French oil and gas group Total (TOTF.PA) talked to its bankers about raising a possible acquisition loan about a month ago, banking sources said. [ID:nL3407894]
** Investment funds of Wall Street banks Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and private equity giant Bain Capital plan to invest a combined at least $30 million into a Chinese movie distributor soon, top boss of the distributor Poly Bona told Reuters. [ID:nHKG300590]
** Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEHMQ.PK) has received three bids for its prized asset management unit Neuberger Berman, a bankruptcy lawyer for the company said. [ID:nN03332123]
** The owners of Russian lender Ursa Bank and top-30 bank MDM have decided to merge their share holdings, creating Russia's second-largest privately-owned bank, the banks said in a joint news release. [ID:nL379465]
** The Irish government said it would consider Ryanair's (RYA.I) new offer to buy rival airline Aer Lingus (AERL.I), in which the state holds a 25 percent stake, but it will be careful to preserve competition. [ID:nL320884]
