The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 1115 GMT on Wednesday:

** Canadian miner Barrick Gold Corp said it has proposed to acquire all of the shares it does not already own in Acacia Mining Plc through a share-for-share exchange of 0.153 Barrick shares for each ordinary share of Acacia. 

 

** Saudi Aramco has entered into a 20-year agreement with U.S.-based Sempra Energy SRE.N to purchase liquefied natural gas(LNG) from its subsidiary Sempra LNG, the two companies said.

** The founders of Oriflame have made an offer to buy out the shares in the Swedish beauty products company they do not own, valuing the company at 12.9 billion crowns ($1.3 billion). 

 

** Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology company, agreed to buy Scandinavian biopharmaceutical company Nuevolution AB  for 1.61 billion Swedish crowns ($166.8 million) to boost its position in drug discovery. 

 

** U.S. payments technology firm Nuvei Corp said it would buy SafeCharge International Group Ltd SCHS.L in an all-cash deal valued at $889 million to expand in the fast-growing electronic payments industry. 

 

** Solabia Group, a French maker of natural active ingredients for the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and microbiology industries, said it had acquired Israel's Algatech. 

 

** Thyssenkrupp's  supervisory board has left the door open for a potential sale of the group's elevator unit, which CEO Guido Kerkhoff prefers should be listed on the stock exchange, two people familiar with the matter said. 

 

** Pret A Manger has bought smaller rival EAT, the British sandwich and coffee shop chain said, as it looks to capitalise on the thriving vegan and vegetarian market through its Veggie Pret brand.

(Compiled by Aakash Jagadeesh Babu in Bengaluru) ((Aakash.B@thomsonreuters.com; within the U.S. +16462238780, outside the U.S. +91 80 67491576; Reuters Messaging: Aakash.B.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))