(Adds Agrium , Ameriprise, Abbott Labs, Enel , Mubadala Development, Viacom, Lattice Semiconductor, American Axle; Updates Deutsche Bank )
Nov 3 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Thursday:
** Shareholders of Agrium Inc AGU.TO and Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc POT.TO overwhelmingly approved an all-stock merger of the fertilizer producers on Thursday, moving the focus to U.S. and Canadian regulators. U.S. financial services company Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) AMP.N has joined the race to buy asset manager Pioneer Investments, which has been put on the block by Italy's biggest bank UniCredit CRDI.MI , two sources close to the matter said. Medical device maker Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) ABT.N has offered concessions in an attempt to secure EU antitrust approval for its $25 billion bid for St Jude Medical Inc (NYSE:STJ) STJ.N , according to the European Commision. Italy's biggest utility Enel ENEI.MI has decided not to bid for Indonesian geothermal assets being sold by U.S. energy giant Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) CVX.N , Enel's CEO said. Abu Dhabi state investment vehicle Mubadala Development Co MUDEV.UL is considering the sale of a least part of its stake in Dubai's National Central Cooling Co TABR.DU ( Tabreed ), three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Viacom Inc VIAB.O , the owner of Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV, is in talks to acquire Argentine broadcaster Television Federal SA from phone carrier Telefonica SA TEF.MC for up to $385 million, according to people familiar with the deal. Programmable-chip maker Lattice Semiconductor Corp LSCC.O said it is being bought by private equity buyout firm Canyon Bridge Capital Partners for $1.3 billion, the latest deal in the consolidating chip sector. U.S. auto-parts maker American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc AXL.N agreed to buy Metaldyne Performance Group Inc MPG.N for about $1.6 billion in a cash-and-stock deal, a move that would help lower its dependence on General Motors Co (NYSE:GM) GM.N . Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) ANZ.AX said it will sell its Australian insurance and wealth division to raise cash as it posted its weakest profit in five years and warned that a soft jobs market could crimp growth. South Korea's POSCO 005490.KS said it has not bid to buy Australia's Arrium Ltd ARI.AX steelworks, but is trying to sell the group technology, differing from comments by a senior Australian minister who said POSCO is in the running. Japan's Mitsui 8031.T said it is considering selling its stakes in the Loy Yang B coal-fired power station and Kwinana gas-fired power plant in Australia. Fosun International Ltd 0656.HK is in exclusive talks to buy a large minority stake in Russia's biggest gold miner Polyus PLZL.MM , three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, in what would be the Chinese group's maiden Russian deal. Zain ZAIN.KW , Kuwait's No. 1 telecom operator by subscribers, said it will pay $129 million to Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS over a settlement related to the sale of Zain's Africa operations to the Indian firm in 2010. ASML Holding NV ASML.AS , a key supplier to computer chipmakers, said it would buy a quarter stake in optics company Carl Zeiss's CZTOP.UL SMT subsidiary for 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to deepen their collaboration on ASML's newest generation of products. European drinks bottler Coca-Cola HBC CCH.L is open to acquisitions of juice and water brands or new territories, its chief executive said, following the release of first-half results. Shares in insurance provider esure ESUR.L plunged 27 percent on opening on Thursday following completion of its demerger with price comparison website Gocompare GOCO.L . York Capital Management has completed the sale of its 9.8 percent stake in Irish telecoms firm eir, eir's Chief Executive Richard Moat said. Deutsche Bank DBKGn.DE has received regulatory approval for the sale of its 20 percent stake in Chinese peer Hua Xia 600015.SS to PICC Property and Casualty 2328.HK , it said. European coffee company Jacobs Douwe Egberts BV (JDE) has agreed to buy Singapore-listed Super Group Ltd SPGP.SI for S$1.45 billion ($1 billion), giving it control over an instant food and beverage firm with manufacturing plants in Southeast Asia and China. Chipmaker Broadcom Ltd AVGO.O said it would buy Brocade Communications Systems Inc BRCD.O on Wednesday for $5.5 billion, pushing deeper into the fast-growing market for network equipment used in data centers. Twelve U.S. senators urged on Wednesday that a national security review panel reject Chinese aluminum giant Zhongwang International Group Ltd's proposed $2.3 billion purchase of U.S. aluminum products maker Aleris Corp ALSD.PK . Australia's corporate watchdog said it had competition concerns about the planned $130 billion merger between DuPont (NYSE:DD) DD.N and Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) Co DOW.N and was in touch with overseas regulators on the deal. The U.S. Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin Corp (NYSE:LMT) LMT.N concluded negotiations on their ninth contract for F-35 fighter jets after 14 months of negotiations on the more than $6.1 billion deal, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. = 1.3057 Australian dollars)
($1 = 0.8991 euros)
($1 = 1.3847 Singapore dollars)