Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions

Nov 4 - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 1000 GMT on Wednesday.

** Kraft Foods Inc <KFT.N> has obtained a $9 billion in bridge financing from a group of nine banks to back its 10.2 billion pound bid for Britain's Cadbury Plc <CBRY.L>, bankers told Thomson Reuters LPC.

To read more click on [ID:nN03519569]

** General Motors' [GM.UL] decision to keep its European arm Opel after months of negotiations to sell it triggered anger and dismay in Germany, which had led the talks and was putting up much of the cash. [ID:nL4519517]

** Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc <BRKa.N><BRKb.N> will pay $26 billion to buy out Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp <BNI.N> in a bet the nation's largest rail company will benefit from a recovering U.S. economy. [ID:nN03483590]

** Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG <NOVN.VX> is buying an 85 percent stake in Chinese vaccines company Zhejiang Tianyuan Bio-Pharmaceutical for $125 million to boost its presence in the fast-growing market. [ID: nL4419141]

** Goldman Sachs <GS.N> has agreed to sell half of its holding in Shineway Group, China's top meat processor, to a Chinese fund for about $150 million, earning roughly five times its investment from the landmark 2006 deal, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. [ID: nHKG179131]

** Shares of First Philippine Holdings <FPH.PS> rose as much 10 percent after it confirmed receiving a $940 million offer for its remaining 13.4 percent stake in Manila Electric Co <MER.PS>. [ID:nMAN532093]

** Physical rehabilitation services provider RehabCare Group Inc <RHB.N> said it agreed to merge with privately held Triumph HealthCare, a long-term acute care hospitals operator, for about $570 million, to create the fourth-largest U.S. post-acute hospital operator. [ID:nBNG524541]

** Danish brewer Carlsberg <CARLb.CO> said it would buy the half of Vietnamese Hue Brewery that it does not already own to boost its position in the Vietnam beer market. [ID: nDKT004711]

** Barry Callebaut AG <BARN.S>, the world's largest chocolate maker, is buying Spanish rival Chocovic from the Nederland Group to boost its position with industrial and artisan customers in Spain. [ID: nL460653]

** Conglomerate San Miguel Corp <SMCB.PS> said it may ditch its plan to buy a majority stake in Philippines' largest oil refiner Petron Corp <PCOR.PS>, after the government imposed a cap on oil prices. [ID: nMAN195627]

** Japan's Panasonic Corp <6752.T> said it would launch a tender offer for shares in Sanyo Electric Co <6764.T> on Thursday, moving closer to becoming a powerhouse in hybrid car batteries and other green-energy businesses through the bid worth at least 402.3 billion yen . [ID: nT182667]

** Azerbaijan's state oil company Socar plans to take a "substantial" stake in an Italian oil refinery next year and aims to raise the proportion of term exports of Azeri Light crude to Asia, its chief executive said. [ID: nSP278630]

** U.S. discount retailer Target Corp <TGT.N> denied a media report that said it was in talks to sell its captive technology centre in Bangalore. [ID: nBNG298804]

** Shareholders of Chartered Semiconductor <CSMF.SI> have voted in favor of Abu Dhabi state fund ATIC's offer to buy the chipmaker, the two companies said. [ID: nSGC003358] (Compiled by Tina Kwan in Singapore and Shobhana Chadha in Bangalore)