(Adds ProSiebenSat.1, Cementir Holding, Buenaventura, T-Mobile; Updates Linde )
Sept 19 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Tuesday:
** The proposed $74 billion tie-up of German industrial gases group Linde LING.DE and U.S. peer Praxair (NYSE:PX) PX.N got a boost on Tuesday when the world's biggest sovereign wealth fund said it was backing the deal. The activist investor fighting Clariant 's CLN.S planned $20 billion merger with Huntsman Corp HUN.N has built a 15.1 percent stake in the Swiss chemicals maker, making it the company's biggest shareholder. Buenaventura BUEv.LM , BVN.N is considering making a bid on a $2 billion copper project in Peru as the precious metal miner's gold production dwindles and copper prices rally, the company's chairman told Reuters. Post Holdings Inc POST.N , which makes Honey Bunches of Oats and Grape-Nuts cereals, said it would buy Bob Evans Farms Inc BOBE.O for about $1.5 billion, adding vegetable-based side dishes and breakfast sausages to its portfolio. German chemicals group BASF BASFn.DE has strengthened its nylon business by agreeing to buy the global polyamide business from Belgian rival Solvay SOLB.BR for 1.6 billion euros ($1.9 billion). Drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA.O said it received regulatory clearance to buy 1,932 stores, 254 stores lesser than it had previously intended, from Rite Aid Corp RAD.N for $4.38 billion. Fomento Economico Mexicano (Femsa) said it had sold a stake of 5.24 percent in Heineken, the world's second largest brewer for some 2.5 billion euros ($3 billion). U.S. drug contract manufacturer Catalent Inc CTLT.N agreed to buy Cook Pharmica LLC for $950 million in cash as the company doubles down on its fast-growing business of supplying biologics to drugmakers. The sale of former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci's SkyBridge Capital LLC hedge fund investment firm to a consortium that includes a Chinese buyer is still on track, with the closing date expected in late September, the firm's chief investment officer said. New Hope Corp NHC.AX is chasing more coal mine acquisitions in Australia over the next year to drive growth, its boss said after reporting a huge rise in annual profit on the back of an earlier expansion and higher coal prices. Creditors of Australia's embattled Ten Network Holdings Ltd TEN.AX agreed to a A$209.7 million ($167 million) buyout from CBS Corp (NYSE:CBS) CBS.N , effectively ending a battle for control between the U.S. broadcasting giant and Lachlan Murdoch. Thai coal miner Banpu PCL BANPU.BK is buying a 25.7 percent stake in Singaporean green energy firm, Sunseap Group Pte Ltd for $55.7 million, the company said. China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) is bidding to make an equity investment in a planned British nuclear plant, the future of which was thrown into doubt earlier this year amid mounting financial woes at its developer Toshiba Corp 6502.T . Nordic telecom operator Telia Company TELIA.ST said it had sold a 7 percent stake in Turkish mobile operator Turkcell TCELL.ST in a deal generating proceeds of about 4.1 billion Swedish crowns ($516 million). German vehicle brake systems maker Knorr-Bremse has dropped its 5.5 billion crown ($692 million) bid for smaller Swedish rival Haldex HLDX.ST , ending for now a heated bidding process that has lasted more than a year. Oil major Total TOTF.PA has stepped up its expansion into renewables with investments in solar and wind energy producer EREN RE and energy efficiency firm GreenFlex. German media group ProSiebenSat.1 PSMGn.DE is looking at up to 10 potential takeovers to reduce reliance on its advertising-driven TV operation, Chief Executive Thomas Ebeling has told investors. German automotive supplier ZF Friedrichshafen ZFF.UL will not reenter the race for Swedish brake-systems maker Haldex HLDX.ST after Knorr-Bremse STELLG.UL dropped its 5.5 billion Swedish crown ($693 million) bid, it said. Thyssenkrupp's TKAG.DE works council is prepared to consider a merger of the group's European steel operations with those of Tata Steel TISC.NS , even though it remains opposed to such a move as a way to restructure the business. Russia's O1 Properties, one of the largest commercial property owners in the country, is in talks with a Chinese investor to sell a stake in the company, three people familiar with the talks said. U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management Corp raised its stake in Hitachi Kokusai Electric 6756.T to just over 6 percent, a government filing showed, piling up pressure on KKR & Co LP KKR.N that has been trying to buy out the Japanese firm.
** Italy's third-largest cement maker Cementir Holding CEMI.MI has agreed to sell its domestic assets to Italcementi, owned by Germany's HeidelbergCement HEIG.DE . Pioneer 6773.T and digital mapping group HERE said they had agreed to invest in one another so the companies can develop maps for autonomous driving services. Portugal's telecom market watchdog Anacom delivered a blow to takeover plans by Dutch-based Altice for Media Capital, the owner of the TVI television channel, warning it could create serious obstacles to competition and harm consumers. Bayer BAYGn.DE said it was unable to propose the sale of any digital farming assets to allay EU concerns about its planned $66 billion takeover of Monsanto (NYSE:MON) MON.N . U.S. investment fund Apollo Global Management APO.N was one of two bidders for a 55 percent stake in Slovenia's Gorenjska Banka GBKR.LJ and is now considering making a higher offer, a newspaper reported. U.S. wireless carriers T-Mobile US Inc TMUS.O and Sprint Corp S.N are said to be in active merger talks, CNBC reported on Tuesday, citing sources.