Lufthansa is set to sign a deal to buy parts of Air Berlin, the failed German carrier. The deal was reported Thursday morning by the Rheinische Post and confirmed to Fortune by Lufthansa.
Germany’s second-largest carrier filed for bankruptcy in August after its main shareholder, Etihad, said it would not give further financial support.
Swiss private bank J. Safra Sarasin Group has agreed to buy Bank Hapoalim’s private banking businesses in Luxembourg and Switzerland, with offices in Zurich and Luxembourg, the Swiss group said on Tuesday.
"The agreement covers qualifying clients and their relationship management teams who are focused on private banking clients across Israel and Europe," it added in a statement. It gave no purchase price for the deal, which it said was set to wrap up in the first half of 2018 pending regulatory approval.
Ikea, the Swedish furniture retail giant, has bought TaskRabbit, a San Francisco startup that lets people hire workers to do short-term odd jobs-like setting up Ikea furniture, fixing a leaky faucet, or setting up for a party.
Ikea said it tested TaskRabbit in its stores in London last year and plans to roll out the service in U.S. stores and more U.K. locations. More countries may be added later. Before the TaskRabbit deal, certain Ikea stores already provided some independent workers to assemble goods.
American billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway group has officially become the top shareholder in Bank of America after exercising its right to buy 700 million shares at a discount.
Buffett had received the warrants in 2011 after investing $5 billion in the bank, which was suffering at the time from the fallout from the global financial crisis.
Gilead Sciences Inc agreed to buy Kite Pharma Inc in a $11.9 billion deal on Monday, as it looks to fuel growth with an emerging class of cancer immunotherapies that are expected to generate billions.
Gilead will pay $180 per share in an all-cash deal, representing a 29.4 percent premium over Kite’s Friday close. Kite’s shares were trading up at $178.15 before the bell.
Italy’s largest retail bank Intesa Sanpaolo said on Wednesday it had reached an agreement to buy Switzerland’s Banque Morval. "The agreement is in line with Intesa Sanpaolo’s strategic plan to strengthen its presence on international markets in the field of private banking," the two said in a joint statement, without disclosing the value of the acquisition.
Heineken’s £403million takeover of Punch Taverns received the grreen light by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) after the competition watchdog accepted plans to sell off some the almost 1,900 newly-acquired pubs to allay fears it could reduce competition.
Heineken announced last December that it was teaming up with Patron Capital, the private equity firm, to buy Punch for £409m (€305m), or £1.78bn once Punch’s debt is taken into account.
Swiss dairy group Emmi is selling its 24% stake in Italian cheese specialist Venchiaredo to focus on markets and sectors with "growth potential".
Emmi, which acquired the holding in 2010, is looking to focus its Italian business on desserts, cheese exports from Switzerland and its 25% stake in cheese trader Ambrosi, according to a statement.
