Deals of the day- Mergers and acquisitions

(Adds Deere, Pfizer, Pershing Square Capital Management, Spirit Pub, Alstom, Procter & Gamble, Total, ZF Friedrichshafen, WSE, Jost Group, Grupo Oi, Eurobank Ergasias, UniCredit and Telefonica) Sept 23 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Tuesday: ** Deere & Co, the world's largest farm equipment maker, said it was exploring strategic options for its low-margin crop insurance business and had hired Citigroup as its adviser. ** Pfizer Inc has approached Dublin-based generic drugmaker Actavis Plc to express its interest in an acquisition, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. ** Billionaire William Ackman-backed Pershing Square Capital Management said that it would sue botox-maker Allergan Inc if it went ahead with a deal to buy drugmaker Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. ** British pub chain Spirit Pub Co said it had rejected a 661 million pound ($1.08 billion) takeover approach from rival Greene King, reasoning it undervalued the company and its "attractive prospects". ** Alstom SA's purchase of General Electric Co's rail signalling unit is expected to close in the second quarter of next year, at the same time as a broader deal with GE on power, the head of the French group's transport unit said. ** Procter & Gamble Co said it would sell the last of its pet food business to consumer products company Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc as it focuses on more profitable lines such as Tide detergent, Gillette razors and Pampers diapers. ** French oil major Total SA has agreed to sell its 25 percent stake in Cardinal Gas Services, a gas transport company operating in Ohio's Utica shale gas basin, to a group of Korean companies for up to $450 million. ** Spain's Telefonica is considering a range of tie-up options in Mexico with broadcaster Grupo Televisa, including creating a new telecommunications company together, a person with knowledge of the matter said. ** Italian bank UniCredit SpA and Spain's Santander SA are in talks to merge their fund management businesses and create a European powerhouse overseeing some 350 billion euros ($450 billion) of assets. ** Greece's third-largest lender Eurobank Ergasias SA said on Tuesday it had cancelled the sale of its Ukrainian subsidiary PJSC Universal Bank to Ukraine's Delta Bank Group after the deal did not get regulatory approval. ** Grupo Oi SA, Brazil's most indebted telecom company, backed out of a key auction for fourth-generation (4G) cell spectrum on Tuesday, adding to speculation of an upcoming takeover in a highly competitive wireless market. ** German truck and trailer parts maker Jost Group said it was in advanced talks to buy Mercedes-Benz TrailerAxleSystems from Daimler, which is seeking to cut costs. ** The Warsaw stock exchange (WSE) said on Tuesday it had shelved plans for a merger with its regional rival, the Vienna bourse, but the Viennese exchange said it still saw a tie-up with Warsaw as an option. ** German auto supplier ZF Friedrichshafen AG will consider further acquisitions after agreeing a $13.5 billion takeover including debt of U.S. peer TRW Automotive Holdings last week, ZF's chief executive said. ** Veresen Inc, a Canadian pipeline company developing the Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas facility in Oregon, said on Monday that it had agreed to acquire Global Infrastructure Partners' half interest in the Ruby pipeline system for $1.43 billion. ** Pakistan's government is seeking to raise about $815 million with the sale of shares in Oil & Gas Development Co Ltd (OGDC), the largest offering from a local company in almost eight years. ** Chinese conglomerate Fosun International Ltd is bidding 451 million euros ($580 million) for Portugal's Espirito Santo Saude (ESS), weighing into a takeover battle for the hospital business of the indebted Espirito Santo family. ** Standard Chartered is in advanced talks to sell its Hong Kong consumer finance business to finance firm Pepper Australia Pty Ltd in a deal that could fetch between $500 million to $700 million, people familiar with the deal said. ** L Capital, Temasek Holdings and International Finance Corp are in advanced talks to buy a 30 percent stake in the retail arm of India's Aditya Birla Group for about $400-500 million, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. ** French financial holding company Eurazeo said it raised 320 million euros from the sale of a remaining 7.13 percent of stake in electrical equipment supplier Rexel , a return that is 2.3 times its initial investment. ** Spain's Banco Financiero y de Ahorros (BFA), the state-owned holding company which controls Bankia, said it had sold its entire 2.99 percent stake in insurer Mapfre for 276.8 million euros. ** Standard & Poor's owner McGraw Hill Financial Inc said it would sell McGraw Hill Construction to a private equity firm for $320 million. ** Indophil Resources NL said Philippines-based conglomerate Alsons Group had offered to fully acquire the Australian company for 30 cents per share in an all-cash deal. ** Norway's Yara International is in talks with Chicago-based CF Industries about a possible merger of equals, the firms said, a deal that would create a fertilizer giant with a market value over $27 billion. ** Blackstone Group LP has agreed to buy a stake in China's Xinrong Best Medical Instrument Co, the U.S. private equity firm said. ** Spanish bank Santander has emerged as the front runner to buy a stake of up to 50 percent in Italian rival Unicredit's asset management division Pioneer, sources close to the matter told Reuters. ** Aberdeen Asset Management Plc's Asian arm has received regulatory approval to buy 80 percent of Indonesia's PT NISP Asset Management, paving the way for the asset management firm to expand in Southeast Asia's largest economy. ** Qatar's Masraf Al Rayan has put its planned acquisition of a stake in a commercial bank in Libya on hold until political conditions in the north African country improve, it said in a statement. ** Volkswagen truck makers MAN and Scania are starting a cooperation in gearboxes for heavy commercial vehicles, they said on Tuesday. ** The Italian government has written to investment banks and advisory firms inviting bids to work on the sale of a stake in state-controlled power group Enel in the next few months, a source close to the situation said. ** Philips said it would break its 120-year-old company in two, creating a standalone lighting business and merging consumer and healthcare divisions into a 15-billion euro business. ** Croatian tourism, tobacco and insurance group Adris said it may seek a partner for its cigarette-manufacturing arm as rising global competition was hurting the business. ** Turkish conglomerate Sabanci Holding plans to bid for some of the assets cement makers Lafarge and Holcim must sell to steer their mega-merger past competition watchdogs, a source with knowledge of the deal told Reuters. ** Lloyds Banking Group could launch a second sale of shares in TSB Banking Group in the next week after a lock-up period expires at Tuesday's stock market close, according to banking sources. ** Romanian restitution fund Fondul Proprietatea will start buying back roughly 7.3 percent of its shares as soon as the European Union state's financial regulator approves a previous programme, its Franklin Templeton manager said. ** Japan's largest retailer, Aeon Co Ltd, will make Daei Inc, in which it holds a 44.15 percent stake, into a fully owned subsidiary as it steps up efforts to turn around the struggling supermarket chain operator, a source with knowledge of the matter said. ** Italian phone group Telecom Italia is considering a stock market listing of its domestic mobile towers in 2015 instead of selling them as initially planned, two sources close to the matter said. ($1 = 0.7775 euro) ($1 = 0.6103 British Pounds) (Compiled by Anet Josline Pinto in Bangalore)