(Adds Caixa Geral de Depositos, AMS-Osram, Enel , Adyen , Stanley Black & Decker-IguanaFix, Thyssenkrupp-Kloeckner & Co, KKR & Co; Updates Volkswagen, Sunrise Communications-Liberty Global,)
Aug 22 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Thursday:
** Buyout firm KKR & Co Inc KKR.N is exploring a sale of Epicor Software Corp that could value the U.S. enterprise resource planning software provider at close to $5 billion, including debt, people familiar with the matter said. German industrial group Thyssenkrupp TKAG.DE is in talks to buy metals distributor Kloeckner & Co KCOGn.DE in a move to strengthen its steel business, Handelsblatt reported citing sources familiar with the matter. U.S. toolmaker Stanley Black & Decker Inc (NYSE:SWK) has acquired a stake in IguanaFix, an Argentine online company that connects homeowners with service providers, the companies told Reuters. Dutch fintech company Adyen ADYEN.AS said its founders are selling part of their shareholdings in the group to diversify their risk. Swiss telecoms firm Sunrise Communications stepped up efforts to rescue its takeover of Liberty Global's Swiss unit amid criticism from its top shareholder, saying it had found new synergies and could cut a planned rights issue to fund the deal. Italy's biggest utility Enel ENEI.MI said it had appointed Carlo Pignoloni as its new country manager for its operations in Romania. AMS's AMS.S finance chief said further restructuring would be necessary at Germany's Osram OSRn.DE and signalled there would be job cuts if the sensor specialist's takeover offer for the company was successful. Portugal's government said it had picked investors to take part in the next stage of bidding for the Brazilian unit of state-owned bank Caixa Geral de Depositos (CGD), which would involve making binding offers. Volkswagen VOWG_p.DE said it was not interested in taking a stake in Tesla TSLA.O , denying a media report that CEO Herbert Diess wanted to buy shares in the U.S. company to access its software and batteries technology. Russian internet group Mail.ru MAILRq.L has teamed up with investment firm Proxima Capital to buy a controlling stake in car-sharing operator YouDrive, which it may fold into its planned food and taxi joint venture with state-run Sberbank. Private equity funds Advent, Apollo APO.N , CVC, Carlyle CG.O , KKR KKR.N and probably also EQT are among the parties interested in Thyssenkrupp's TKAG.DE elevators division, Germany's Manager Magazin reported. Australian retail-to-chemicals conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd WES.AX said it would not pursue its proposal to buy rare earths miner Lynas Corp LYC.AX . Britain's Premier Oil PMO.L said it has begun the process to sell its assets in the Zama field on offshore Mexico to cut debt. Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L has made its first foray into Australia's highly competitive power sector with a A$617 million ($419 million) takeover offer for ERM Power Ltd EPW.AX , the country's no.2 energy retailer to businesses and industry.
** The Brazilian government added nine more companies to the list of state-controlled firms to be privatized, including the national postal service Correios and Codesp, the company managing Latin America's largest port in Santos. Data analytics software maker Splunk Inc SPLK.O said it would acquire privately held SignalFx, which makes software for the cloud, in a cash and stock deal for about $1.05 billion. The economic team of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro wants to privatize state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA PETR4.SA before the end of his term in 2022, Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico reported on its website, citing anonymous sources.