UPDATE 1-Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions

Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:09am EDT
(Adds HDFC, Telenor, Zentiva and others)
March 17 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 1000 GMT on Tuesday.
(For Reuters columns on deals, click [DEALTALK/]
** Brazil's largest meat processor, Sadia (SDIA4.SA) (SDA.N), said it was considering a business tie-up with Perdigao (PRGA3.SA), another major meat processor and exporter.
** Indian engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (LART.BO) is talking to private equity firms such as Blackstone (BX.N) and The Carlyle Group [CYL.UL] to jointly bid for Satyam Computer Services (SATY.BO), the Economic Times reported.[ID:nBOM186376]
** Lenders, including billionaire financier Carl Icahn, plan to bid on the Atlantic City Tropicana casino, and the trustee overseeing the resort is seeking state approval for the transaction. [ID:nN16543585]
** Canadian fertilizer maker Agrium Inc (AGU.TO) (AGU.N) put its hostile bid for U.S. rival CF Industries (CF.N) in motion, formally offering to acquire all CF's outstanding shares. [ID:nN16534590]
** Oman's largest lender Bank Muscat BMAO.OM will sell its entire stake in India's HDFC Bank (HDBK.BO) as it seeks cash to weather a possible rise in provisions this year as the financial crisis bites. [ID:nLH225597]
** Norwegian telecom group Telenor (TEL.OL) will take a larger stake in India's Unitech Wireless than previously stated as a result of a $1.2 billion investment in the Indian group announced last October. [ID:nLH250736]
** Czech generic drugs maker Zentiva (ZNTVsp.PR) called an extraordinary shareholders' meeting for April 2 to discuss Sanofi-Aventis' (SASY.PA) planned takeover of the company, it said. [ID:nLH283636]
** Belgium's dominant telecom operator Belgacom (BCOM.BR) said it is taking a 40 percent stake in Tunz, a Belgian firm specialising in payment systems over mobile devices. [ID:nLH308722]
** Polish telecom company MNI SZEP.WA is still interested in buying a stake in larger rival Netia NTIA.WA after being outbid by financial investors earlier this month, MNI's chief executive was quoted as saying on Tuesday. [ID:nLH320284]
** Air Berlin (AB1.DE) said it was in advanced negotiations for a cross-shareholding with TUI Travel's (TT.L) TUIfly that would give it access to the unit's route network. [ID:nLH355846]
** British defence and support services firm VT Group (VTG.L) plans to begin an acquisition spree in the autumn and hopes to use the extra scale to bid for $3 billion worth of U.S. contracts. [ID:nLH735157] (Compiled by Tina Kwan in Singapore; Renju Jose in Bangalore)