Tuesday Papers: Cognetas to acquire Arca Planet - tips, comment and bids

(Updated with Telegraph share tips)

Financial Times

* Cognetas, a London-based private equity group, will announce its first new deal for more than two years on Tuesday with the purchase of Arca Planet, Italy’s leading pet accessories store, for about €45 million.

* M&T Bank agreed to buy Wilmington Trust, a venerable US mid-Atlantic lender and wealth manager crippled by mounting credit losses, in a bid to become a new regional banking force.

* Shares in Chrysalis jumped almost 20% after the UK music publisher confirmed it was in talks over a potential merger or sale; Jefferies is advising Chrysalis - which has a market capitalisation of about £74 million - on any deal.

* India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp is considering acquiring ExxonMobil’s and Total’s oil assets in Angola.

* Douglas Miller, the chief executive of Exco Resources, the independent oil and gas company, has made a $4.4 billion offer to buy the company and has held discussions with Boone Pickens, the oilman, and private equity groups about backing a possible buy-out.

* Nycomed, a Swiss drug company focused on emerging markets, is to acquire majority control of a Guangdong pharmaceuticals business in a deal aimed at pioneering worldwide sales of Chinese-developed medicines.

The Lex Column

* QE2: the least worst option - Bernanke must keep the tap flowing until the policy works – and not a minute longer.

* Management buy-outs - Why aren’t more bosses copying the CEO’s bid for Exco Resources?

* Parcel force - For logistics companies, terrorism is just another cost of doing business.