Glance-UPDATE 3-Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions

(Adds IMS Health Inc, Verenex Energy, Escada and others) Nov 5 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 2100 GMT on Thursday. (For Reuters columns on deals, click on) ** Australian toll road operator Transurban Group rejected a $4.4 billion buyout approach from two Canadian pension funds, but left the door open to a better offer, sending its shares up 20 percent. To read more, click on ** Private equity firm TPG and the Canada Pension Plan struck the biggest leveraged buyout deal of this year, worth $4 billion, to buy prescription drug sales data provider IMS Health Inc. ** Spain's Telefonica will buy broadband operator HanseNet from Telecom Italia for 900 million euros ($1.34 billion), Telefonica said, strengthening its competitive position in Germany. ** Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. plans to buy a controlling stake in the Travel Channel under a deal with Cox Communications Inc that values the cable network at nearly $1 billion. ** Verenex Energy Inc confirmed it will sell its operations to the Libyan Investment Authority for at least C$316.8 million ($299 million), ending a battle in which the Libyans blocked a better offer for the Canadian oil producer from a Chinese oil company. ** Canadian crude oil and natural gas company West Energy Ltd said it agreed to buy some oil properties in the Warburg area of Alberta for C$147 million ($138.4 million) from an unnamed "major company". ** Finnish engineering firm Metso launched a 177 million euro ($261 million) bid for smaller rival Tamfelt Oyj on Thursday, seeking to bolster its services business. ** China's Sinochem Corp is near a $320 million deal to buy an independent oil company in Kazakhstan, industry sources told Reuters, deepening Chinese state investment in the central Asian nation's oil sector. ** Czech oil pipeline operator Mero has offered $125 million for Royal Dutch Shell's 16.3 percent stake in the main Czech refinery, daily Hospodarske Noviny reported, citing unnamed sources. ** India's Wipro Ltd has acquired some businesses of Yardley for about $45.5 million from British personal care company Lornamead to boost its consumer care unit's presence in the overseas markets. ** China's Jilin Jien, whose bid for Canadian Royalties is facing opposition from certain investors, said it will not increase or extend its offer to buy the early-stage Canadian miner. COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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