Manulife Financial Corp and Metlife are among the companies that have submitted first round bids for ING‘s entire Asia life insurance business, sources said on Saturday, in what could be the largest Asia M&A insurance deal ever, writes Reuters. US private equity fund J.C. Flowers & Co, TPG and Carlyle Group are among the buyout [...]

The week’s top PE-deal involves shoes.

PE will likely be interested in Abercrombie which could get bids of $70 a share, according to a report.

Australian surfwear business Billabong International has rejected a A$765 million ($820 million) takeover bid from private equity firm TPG as too low, writes reuters. But the company is still in talks with the global buyout firm about the company. Reuters – Australian surfwear company Billabong International rejected a A$765 million ($820 million) takeover offer from [...]

(Reuters) – Brocade Communications System Inc has received first-round bids from a handful of potential buyers as the company explores a sale, sources familiar with the matter said. Shares of the San-Jose, California-based maker of switches and routers for managing data traffic jumped as much as 10.4 percent on Monday after Reuters reported the company [...]

Hedge fund services firm GlobeOp Financial Services is in talks with buyout shops Advent International and TPG, Reuters reported Friday. The firm, which has $173 billion in client assets under administration, has been carrying out a strategic review to try and boost its share price, Reuters wrote.

Private equity-backed French broadcasting group TDF is considering the sale of its Finnish business Digita, writes Reuters. Digita could fetch about 400 million euros ($520 million) and could appeal to rival broadcast network operators and private equity firms, writes Reuters. TDF is backed by buyout groups TPG, AXA Private Equity and Charterhouse. (Reuters) – TDF [...]

Private equity firm TPG has been dropped from the auction for a majority stake in British grocer Iceland Foods because its bid was too low, reports Reuters. Other bidders, private equity firms Bain and BC Partners, as well as grocer Asda and Wm Morrison, are through to a second round of bidding, with offers expected [...]

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(Reuters) – Japan’s Nomura Holdings has approached big private equity firms about the possible sale of domestic businesses including its real estate arm as the bank seeks to shore up its capital buffers, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

The bank is considering selling Nomura Real Estate and Nomura Research Institute, its consulting, information technology and research arm, the FT reported, citing several people familiar with the preliminary talks with parties including KKR and TPG.

“They are talking to everyone about everything not directly related to the securities business,” the Japan head of one big private equity firm that has taken part in the talks said but there was no formal auction process, the FT reported.

Buyout firms which have looked at Nomura Real Estate say Nomura may have difficulty …