Friday Papers: Resolution agrees £2.75bn Axa deal - bid news and gossip

Financial Times

* Resolution has clinched its £2.75bn deal to buy most of Axa’s UK life assurance operations.

* Aabar Investments, the Abu Dhabi state-linked investment vehicle, buys €1.8bn stake in UniCredit.

* Shon Invest, represented by leveraged buy-out specialist Alessandro Benedetti, has purchased a 29.1 per cent stake in Cadogan Petroleum, the scandal-hit gas explorer, from US hedge fund Weiss Asset Management for 22p a share.

* ING, the Dutch banking and insurance group, raised $175m from the sale of a 3.1 per cent stake in India’s domestically owned Kotak Mahindra Bank through block share trades.

* Dubai International Capital, a heavily-indebted investment arm of the emirate’s ruler, has dismissed speculation about a fire sale of assets by promising to keep its five majority-owned companies in Europe for at least two more years.

* Travelport is planning to pursue a flotation in the US after the travel reservations group was forced to pull a $1.9bn offering in London earlier this year.

The Times

* Ocado, the online grocery delivery service, aims to raise £400m in float.

* Diageo, the world’s biggest drinks company, has raised $260 million (£174 million) through a sale and leaseback of some of its land and facilities in Napa Valley, California.

* British American Tobacco said that Nicandro Durante, its chief operating officer, will succeed Paul Adams as chief executive when Mr Adams retires next February.

* Kentz, the Irish engineering group, said that it expects significant growth from Australasia.