greece’s privatisation agency HRADF has invited Greek-Czech investment fund Emma Delta to increase its bid for a controlling interest in gambling specialist Hellenic Football Prognostics Organisation SA (OPAP), the body said in a statement.

Reuters reported earlier, quoting unnamed officials in the know of the process, that Emma Delta, which remained sole bidder after rival Third Point LLC was disqualified on Monday, was asked to sweeten its offer of EUR622m (USD811.1m) for the 33% OPAP stake plus management rights on sale to some EUR650m by Thursday morning.

National Bank of Greece (NYSE:NBG) and Deutsche Bank AG (ETR:DBK), which are advising Greece on the deal, have valued the interest, plus management rights, at EUR610m, while the valuation of an independent advisor is a minimum EUR650m, one official told the agency, adding a sale below EUR650m would not happen.

Another official told Reuters that HRADF was seeking a bid of over EUR650m from Emma Delta, which is controlled by Greek shipowner George Melisanidis and Czech investor Jiri Smecj.

Greek entrepreneur Dimitris Copelouzos’ Helvason is also participating in the joint bid.

Third Point was disqualified from the tender, which Greece launched in September, as it wanted to be entitled to resell shares at any time, one of the insiders told the news agency.

UK interest rates have been maintained at a record-low 0.5% for another month.

The Bank of England announced today that its Monetary Policy Committee had voted not to change the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves.

With the economy struggling to return to growth since the global financial crisis erupted in 2008, rates have been held at 0.5% for more than four years.

The Committee also voted today not to restart the Bank of England’s asset-buying quantitative easing (QE) programme, with a majority of members voting that it is not necessary to add to the GBP375bn of government bonds purchased between March 2009 and October 2012.

Governor Sir Mervyn King and two other policymakers voted in February and March to increase QE but they were outvoted. Details of today’s vote have not yet been released.

Two weeks ago Chancellor George Osborne gave the Bank of England stronger backing to overlook one-off factors impacting on inflation. Despite the change to its mandate, the central bank is sticking with its current policy – for now at least.

Economists have speculated that further stimulus may be agreed later in 2013 following the arrival of Mark Carney, the current governor of the Bank of Canada, who is due to take over from Sir Mervyn as Bank of England governor in July.

The British Chambers of Commerce welcomed the decision to maintain QE at GBP375bn and hold interest rates at 0.5%. Commenting on the growing pressure for more QE later in the year, the business group’s chief economist, David Kern, claimed that such a move would be “misguided” and likely to “provide only marginal benefits for the real economy while heightening risks of financial distortions, bubbles and higher inflation.”

Stephen Gifford, director of economics at the CBI, agreed that with muted growth prospects and international uncertainty the possibility of further QE will remain open. He added, however, that the persistence of above-target inflation may act as a bar to looser policy on the issue.

French nuclear power generation technology solutions provider Areva SA (EPA:AREVA) said Wednesday it had agreed to sell US nuclear measurement arm Canberra Industries Inc to French private equity firm Astorg Partners for an undisclosed sum.

The deal, which is contingent on regulatory clearances, is seen to be finalised before the end of the first semester of this year, Areva said. Exclusive talks on the offload were announced in October.

The move is part of Areva’s drive to shed assets to trim group debt and bankroll its strategic and safety investment programme. This particular divestment will allow Areva to greatly beat its floor target of EUR1.2bn (USD1.5bn) for asset offloads for 2012 and 2013, the vendor said.

Canberra, which has a global workforce of 1,050, posted sales of some EUR250m for last year.

The new group formed from the merger of Italian motorway group Atlantia SpA (BIT:ATL) and airport operator Gemina SpA (BIT:GEM) will consider making bids for Brazilian airports in Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro, Atlantia’s CEO Giovanni Castellucci told a conference call.

The statement was made after the boards of directors of both companies approved earlier a plan to combine their operations via an all-stock deal, in a move to create a global leader in the motorway and airport infrastructure sector.

Speaking at a conference call, Castellucci said that the new entity would continue investing some EUR100m (USD130.2m) to EUR200m a year in its international growth. He also explained that Atlantia had decided to combine its operations with Gemina mainly because the move would support the growth of the Rome airport hub of Fiumicino in the medium to long term. Fiumicino is owned by Aeroporti di Roma SpA (ADR), the airport operator of Rome’s airports which is controlled by Gemina.

The tie-up deal is subject to approval by both companies’ shareholders and regulatory clearance, among other conditions, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2013.

US private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS) said today it had made an investment in UK benefits management software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider Thomsons Online Benefits Ltd, without disclosing its size or value.

The investment in Thomsons, which provides SaaS-based benefit and pension administration, workflow and reporting solutions, as well as ancillary consulting services, was made via VSS’s second structured capital fund VSS Structured Capital II, in conjunction with ABRY Partners LLC’s takeover of Thomsons, VSS said.

The move will allow Thomsons to grow in the UK and worldwide, said VSS Europe partner Morgan Callagy.

Thomsons, which is based in London and has offices also in Singapore and Romania, caters to UK mid-market and multi-national corporations.

A dozen or so private equity groups are expected to submit offers for Allflex Holdings, the UK-based provider of livestock identification products, Reuters reported citing banking sources.

Earlier in the year, Electra Private Equity Plc (LON:ELTA) brought in Rothschild Inc to advise on a sale or refinancing of the business it acquired in 1998. The UK investment company could collect about USD1bn (EUR765m) from the divestment, Reuters said.

The list of potential private equity bidders features some of the most illustrious industry names. According to the sources, interested parties include Astorg Partners, Bain Capital LLC, BC Partners Ltd, The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE:BX), The Carlyle Group LP (NASDAQ:CG), Charterhouse Capital Partners LLP, Hellman & Friedman LLC, KKR & Co LP (NYSE:KKR), the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, OMERS and PAI Partners SAS.

The bidders are expected to submit their offers this week, with roughly half of them anticipated to qualify for the next leg of the race, Reuters said.

Bankers are putting together debt packages to back a buyout, the sources said.

None of the prospective bidders agreed to comment for the news agency, while Electra could not be immediately reached.

Swedish lender Nordea Bank AB (STO:NDA-SEK) has mandated Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA) to seek buyers for its Polish arm, Nordea Bank Polska SA (WAR:NDA), local daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna reported, quoting insiders.

BofA has invited Polish lender PKO Bank Polski SA (WAR:PKO), or PKO BP, Unicredit SpA’s (BIT:UCG) Polish unit Bank Pekao SA (PINK:BKPKF) and France’s BNP Paribas SA (EPA:BNP) to join the race for Nordea Bank Polska. In addition, PKO has appointed Barclays Plc (LON:BARC) to advise it on the process, the sources said.

Nordea spokesman Erik Durhan would not comment on speculation, when approached by Reuters. PKO BP, which last week unveiled a plan to acquire a domestic peer, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Nordea Bank Polska, with a market capitalisation of USD426m (EUR325.7m), is considered to be the country’s twelfth biggest lender by assets. With some 1,900 employees, it serves around 720,000 customers.

US diversified group Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRK.A) has sufficient cash in its war chest to finance another major acquisition, after agreeing on Thursday to buy food giant HJ Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ) in partnership with buyout firm 3G Capital Inc.

The statement was made by Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman Warren Buffet to CNBC.

He told the TV channel that his company was contributing between USD12bn (EUR9bn) and USD13bn of the total of USD28bn price agreed for Heinz.

Berkshire Hathaway is ready for another big transaction, as it has large amounts of cash left, Buffet explained.

Under the agreement with Heinz, Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital are paying USD72.50 per share, with the total price to include assumption of the food group’s outstanding debt.

Heinz expects to drive further growth as a private company under the ownership of the two investors, it said.

The deal, to be financed with cash and debt, is seen to wrap up in the third quarter of this year, subject to clearance by regulators and shareholder approval.

UK regional shopping centre real estate investment trust Capital Shopping Centres Group Plc (LON:CSCG) said Thursday it had reached an agreement to buy the 50% stake in Xscape Braehead Partnership it did not already own.

The company agreed to acquire the stake from property firm Capital & Regional Plc (LON:CAL) for GBP4m (USD6.5m/EUR4.9m).
The target is the owner of a 370,000-square-foot (34,374 sq m) family entertainment destination adjacent to the Braehead shopping centre.

Xscape Braehead features snow slopes, bars, restaurants, a cinema, family attractions and extreme activities.

Xscape Braehead Partnership had gross assets of GBP56.7m as at end-June 2012, including property valued at GBP53.5m. The amount of debt secured on the property as of that date stood at GBP45.6m.

US stock exchange operator Nasdaq OMX Group Inc (NASDAQ:NDAQ) said today that it had made a binding offer to take over the investor relations, public relations and multimedia solutions operations of domestic business information provider Thomson Reuters Corp (NYSE:TRI) for USD390m (EUR299.1m) in cash.

The buyer said it expects to sign a definitive deal after the completion of an information and consultation process, which both companies had started with relevant works councils, unions and employee representatives. The acquisition is also subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Nasdaq OMX expects that the addition would boost its earnings per share in the first full year, excluding transaction-related costs.

The operations being acquired provide insight, analytics and communications solutions to more than 7,000 clients worldwide. Upon completion of the deal, which is expected to occur in the first half of 2013, they will continue to operate as independent companies within the buyer’s corporate solutions division.