WASHINGTON, August 27, 2008 (AFP) - US sporting goods maker Quiksilver said Wednesday it has agreed to sell its Rossignol ski-making group to a company controlled by Australia's Macquarie Group.

Quiksilver said it had received a binding offer of 100 million euros (147 million dollars), from Bruno Cercley, head of Chartreuse & Mont Blanc and a former chief executive of Rossignol.

FRANKFURT, August 26, 2008 (AFP) - The German industrial group ThyssenKrupp plans to sell its Industrial Services division next year, it said on Tuesday.

LONDON, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - The share price of Wolseley, the world's biggest distributor of plumbing and heating products, surged almost 14 percent on Tuesday on speculation that the group may sell its US building materials unit, traders said.

FRANKFURT, August 1, 2008 (AFP) - The German industrial group Siemens announced on Friday another divestment in its telecoms activities, saying it would sell 80 percent of its SHC unit, which makes cordless phones, to Arques Industries.

The amount of the transaction was not provided, but the deal was to be finalised by October 1, a statement said.

BERLIN, July 29, 2008 (AFP) - German engineering giant Siemens said Tuesday it had spun off a controlling stake in its Enterprise Communications (SEN) unit to US investor The Gores Group.

SEN was to be integrated in a joint venture in which Siemens will invest 175 million euros (275 million dollars) and retain a 49 percent stake, it said in a statement.

LONDON, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - Royal Bank of Scotland said Monday it had agreed to sell its 50 percent stake in Tesco Personal Finance (TPF) to its joint venture partner, British supermarket chain Tesco, for 950 million pounds.

FRANKFURT, July 25, 2008 (AFP) - Metro, the leading German distributor, took one-off charges of more than 600 million euros (950 million dollars) in the second quarter as it restructured activities, it said on Friday.

Plans for a dividend this year are not affected however, the group added in a statement.

BERLIN, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - The German engineering group Siemens is mulling the sale of a Czech factory, where 950 workers make trains, as part of the restructuring of its transport division, it said on Wednesday.

Siemens wants to divest the unit by the end of its 2009 exercise, and considers that a sale is one option, a statement said.

BERLIN, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - The German engineering group Siemens is mulling the sale of a Czech factory ,where 950 workers make trains, as part of broad staff cuits, it said on Wednesday.

'Siemens wants to divest (the unit) by the end of its 2009 exercise at the latest,' and considers that 'a sale is a possible option,' a statement said.

FRANKFURT, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - The German tourism and shipping group TUI has received six or seven offers for its container shipping unit Hapag Lloyd, including one from the Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek, a press report said Wednesday.

MADRID, July 18, 2008 (AFP) - Spanish real estate company Metrovacesa said Friday it had sold two shopping malls in Spain to Franco-Dutch property firm Unibail-Rodamco for 434 million euros (688 million dollars).

NEW YORK, July 10, 2008 (AFP) - US conglomerate General Electric said Thursday it is likely to spin off its industrial unit including its appliance division as part of planned reorganization.

The move would go further than a plan announced two months ago to sell or spin off the portion of that division that makes appliances and consumer products such as lighting systems.

LONDON, July 10, 2008 (AFP) - Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto said on Thursday it had agreed to sell its Kintyre uranium mine project in western Australia for 495 million US dollars (315 million euros).

BERLIN, June 9, 2008 (AFP) - German family-owned auto parts company Karmann is considering putting itself up for sale after more than 100 years in business owing to finacial problems, a press report said on Monday.

PARIS, May 31, 2008 (AFP) - A partnership between German firm Diehl and France's Thales has been picked to take over from Airbus a German factory that finishes cabin interiors for the European aircraft-maker, a statement said Saturday.

The head of European aircraft manufacturer Airbus said Wednesday that the sale of a German factory that finished cabin interiors would be announced in the near future.

Thomas Enders told a press conference at the Berlin Air Show that the sale of the plant in Laupheim would happen 'very soon.'

It was not a question of months or even weeks, he added.

ZURICH, May 21, 2008 (AFP) - Swiss banking giant UBS said on Wednesday it had disposed US mortgage-related assets for 15 billion dollars (9.58 billion euros), a price that is 30 percent below the nominal value, to a fund managed by US investment group BlackRock.

NEW YORK, May 16, 2008 (AFP) - General Electric said Friday it has begun a strategic review of its appliance-making business that could involve a sale, spinoff or partnership with another company.

The US conglomerate could as a result get out of the appliance business for the first time in over 100 years.

LONDON, May 8, 2008 (AFP) - The Carphone Warehouse Group, the mobile phone retailer, said Thursday it has agreed to sell 50 percent of its retail operations to US electronics group Best Buy for 2.1 billion dollars (1.4 billion euros) in cash as part of an overall tie-up.

NEW YORK, April 30, 2008 (AFP) - US media conglomerate Time Warner said Wednesday it wants to sell its struggling cable business as part of a restructuring that includes spinning off part of its AOL Internet business.

BERLIN, April 22, 2008 (AFP) - German chipmaker Infineon said it is writing down by one billion euros (1.6 billion dollars) the value in its books of Qimonda, the heavily loss-making memory chip unit that it wants to sell.

FRANKFURT, April 17, 2008 (AFP) - The German retail giant Metro may start approaching potential buyers for its Kaufhof chain of department stores next month, a press report said Wednesday.

A number of financial investors are among the possible buyers, the Financial Times Deutschland reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

GENEVA, April 7, 2008 (AFP) - Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis on Monday laid the ground for a near 40 billion dollar (25.5 billion euros) takeover of the world's biggest eye care company Alcon from food giant Nestle in a bid to boost its healthcare portfolio.

GENEVA, April 7, 2008 (AFP) - Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis boosted its healthcare portfolio on Monday by buying a quarter of eye unit unit Alcon from food giant Nestle for about 11 billion dollars (7.02 billion euros) in cash with an option to buy another 52 percent.

GENEVA, April 6, 2008 (AFP) - Swiss ministers and financiers are striving to reassure markets and citizens there is no banking crisis even as the once-mighty UBS totters after losing billions of dollars in subprime exposure.

ZURICH, April 4, 2008 (AFP) - Embattled Swiss banking giant UBS faced calls for its break up on Friday as its former boss called for the sale of the troubled investment banking unit and the head of its newly installed chairman.

FRANKFURT, April 4, 2008 (AFP) - The investment fund Vatas which is owned by South African businessman Robert Hersov has sold its holding of more than 18 percent in the German low-cost carrier Air Berlin, Vatas said on Friday.

With a stake of 18.562 percent, Vatas was the dominant shareholder in Air Berlin, which is often presented as a potential takeover target.

ZURICH, April 4, 2008 (AFP) - The former head of Swiss bank UBS called on the bank on Friday to shed its troubled investment banking unit and jettison its new chairman, in a blunt attack over huge writedowns.

LONDON, April 4, 2008 (AFP) - The former chief executive of Swiss bank UBS said on Friday he had launched a campaign to break up the company, which has been hit hard by the US subprime crisis, and make sweeping changes to the board.

VIENNA, April 3, 2008 (AFP) - Swiss banking giant UBS is not planning to sell off any of its core divisions despite huge losses it has incurred from the US subprime mortgage crisis, a top manager said in a newspaper interview Thursday.

LONDON, April 1, 2008 (AFP) - British electricals-to-furniture retailer Kesa Electricals said Tuesday that is has completed the sale of French division BUT to a consortium of private-equity companies.

'Kesa Electricals announces the completion of the sale of BUT to a consortium composed of Colony Capital, Goldman Sachs and Merchant Equity Partners,' Kesa said in a statement.

BERLIN, April 1, 2008 (AFP) - German postal and logistics group Deutsche Post said on Tuesday it had sold real estate holdings to US investment fund Lone Star for 1.0 billion euros (1.6 billion dollars).

The US company will acquire some 1,300 properties, most of them in Germany, Deutsche Post said in a statement.

FRANKFURT, March 27, 2008 (AFP) - European aircraft giant Airbus said Thursday that talks to sell three of its German plants to MT Aerospace, a unit of the German group OHB Technology, had collapsed.

The parties failed to agree on a 'viable industrial and financial solution', a statement said.

FRANKFURT, March 27, 2008 (AFP) - Talks by EADS to sell three German plants to MT Aerospace, a unit of the German group OHB Technology, have collapsed, a statement by EADS aircraft manufacturing unit Airbus said on Thursday.

The parties failed to agree on a 'viable industrial and financial solution', the statement said.

FRANKFURT, March 27, 2008 (AFP) - Talks by EADS to sell three German Airbus plants to the private equity firm Cerberus and OHB Technology's MT Aerospace unit have collapsed, a spokesman for the German-French aerospace company said on Thursday.