(Adds Ball Corp (N:BLL), Shell, Caxton,Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, Herbalife (N:HLF), UBS and Feu Vert )
Feb 16 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2100 GMT on Tuesday:
** UK mobile phone operator Vodafone Plc VOD.L and John Malone's cable company Liberty Global Plc LBTYA.O agreed on Monday to combine their operations in the Netherlands in a bid to gain a stronger presence in the local market. Bank of East Asia Ltd 0023.HK , a family-run Hong Kong lender, rejected a call by activist investor Elliott Management Corp to put the bank up for sale, saying the challenging economic and business environment would bode ill for such a process. Drinks can makers Ball Corp BLL.N and Rexam Plc REX.L have begun the process of selling assets, potentially worth more than $3 billion, to meet antitrust regulations ahead of their planned merger, several people familiar with the matter said. Medical device maker Stryker Corp (N:SYK) SYK.N said it would buy Physio-Control International Inc for $1.28 billion in cash to expand its emergency medical services business and the company raised its earnings forecast for the second time this month. Canada's Element Financial Corp EFN.TO said it would split its fleet management business and its vendor and commercial financing business, creating two publicly traded companies. Private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC APO.N will buy ADT Corp (N:ADT) ADT.N in the biggest leveraged buyout so far this year to create a business with nearly a third of North America's electronic security products market. Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc FCS.O said the unsolicited offer it received from China Resources Microelectronics Ltd and Hua Capital Management Co Ltd in December was not superior to ON Semiconductor Corp's ON.O deal. Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O said it had acquired Indian payments processor Emvantage Payments Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed sum. Health insurer Aetna Inc (N:AET) AET.N said on Monday Florida's insurance regulator approved its acquisition of Humana Inc (N:HUM) HUM.N . The company said that with the approval from Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation, it has secured 10 of the 20 state approvals required. Australian ports and rail giant Asciano Ltd AIO.AX formally dumped an A$8.9 billion ($6.4 billion) buyout from Canada's Brookfield Asset Management Inc BAMa.TO after it failed to match a higher offer from local rival Qube Holdings Ltd QUB.AX . Orange ORAN.PA and Bouygues BOUY.PA are likely to reach an initial agreement on the sale of Bouygues's telecoms unit in March at the earliest, amid wrangling over terms that would make Bouygues the second biggest shareholder in Orange after the French state, sources close to the matter said. J&F Investimentos SA, the holding company that controls the world's largest meatpacker, said on Monday it is not considering buying Brazil's largest diversified retailer GPA SA PCAR4.SA and cosmetics producer Natura Cosmeticos SA NATU3.SA as reported by a local columnist. Indian conglomerate JSW Group, whose businesses range from power to steel and cement, is looking to buy distressed port assets in the country as part of a strategy for a massive expansion of its ports capacity, its chief financial officer said. Russia's second-largest oil producer Lukoil LKOH.MM is interested in acquiring a controlling stake in Russian oil company Bashneft BANE.MM , Lukoil's chief executive said on Tuesday. Russia's region of Bashkortostan has no plans to sell its 25 percent stake in mid-sized oil producer Bashneft BANE.MM , TASS news agency quoted regional head Rustem Khamitov as saying on Tuesday. Royal Dutch Shell PLC RDSa.L canceled the sale of 80 percent stakes in two mature oil fields off the coast of Brazil to local oil company PetroRio, the oil major said on Tuesday. Caxton Corp exited its stake in a gold exchange-traded fund when bullion prices fell to their lowest level in nearly six years late last year, a government filing showed on Tuesday, bailing out ahead of the biggest rally in more than four years in early 2016. Brussels-based holding company Groupe Bruxelles Lambert GBLB.BR said on Tuesday it planned to sell its 0.7 percent stake in French oil and gas major Total TOTF.PA through a private placement. William Stiritz, one of the largest investors in Herbalife Ltd HLF.N , cut his stake in the nutrition and weight loss company to 5.2 percent, down from 8.2 percent, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday. Activist investor Knight Vinke has abandoned its bid to convince Swiss bank UBS UBSG.VX to change its strategy and sold a roughly 1 percent stake late last year, a spokesman said on Tuesday. Investment fund Alpha Private Equity is set to enter exclusive negotiations to buy French auto servicing chain Feu Vert, a source with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters on Tuesday.