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UK security, fire protection and home improvement group Williams Holdings is making a US$1.3 billion bid for rival Chubb Security.

Canadian oil and gas company Morrison Petroleums and rival Northstar Energy Corporation are to merge. The merged company will have a market capitalization of nearly US$1.3 billion. It expects to launch a bid of approximately US$325 million for its outstanding shares as soon as the merger is complete.

US filter and separation systems company Pall Corporation has acquired Gelman Sciences for about US$237 million of Pall common stock.

Interim Services, a Florida staffing company, is paying US$575 million for British recruitment and staffing business Michael Page Group. The acquisition is proof of the growing international importance of the temporary service industry. It will allow Interim Services to expand through Europe and east Asia.

Dutch company Philips Media is selling its 50% stake in United and Philips Communications, the largest privately-owned cable system in Europe, to its joint venture partner, American concern United International Holdings. The deal is worth US$425 million.

In its first Eurobond issue since 1982, the Republic of Sri Lanka is to issue US$50 million of floating rate notes. Lead managers to the issue are Citibank and ING Barings.

Texas buy-out company Texas Pacific Group is offering an undisclosed amount, believed to be at least US$800 million, for Del Monte Foods, the US's largest branded producer and distributor of tinned fruit and vegetables.

American Electric Power and Public Service Company of Colorado made an agreed £1.5 billion (US$2.43 billion) offer for UK energy company Yorkshire Electricity. The two American companies are using their joint subsidiary Yorkshire Holdings for the bid. The offer follows the acquisition last year of four British electricity companies by US corporations and is in line with a trend towards cross-border utilities acquisitions. The financial advisers to Yorkshire Electricity are NM Rothschild and Goldman Sachs International. Merrill Lynch is advising Yorkshire Holdings.

Allied Irish Banks (AIB) has acquired US bank holding company Dauphin Deposit Corporation for US$1.36 billion. The acquisition, made by Allied Irish Banks' US subsidiary First Maryland Bancorp, brings the banking group closer to its goal of owning a US bank with assets of more than US$20 billion.

Kathleen Moriarty, partner with the New York office of US firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, has joined the corporate group of Wall Street firm Carter, Ledyard & Milburn. Moriarty, who specializes in investment trusts and structured finance, earned the name 'Spider Woman' after advising the American Stock Exchange on the creation of an investment trust for the trading of SPDRs (Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts). These securities can be traded all day on the stock exchange as shares in a unit trust. Before the launch of the SPDR Trust in 1993, investors could only trade their shares in index funds once at the end of each trading day. Moriarty, who has also structured several high-profile municipal bond issues for New York landmarks, joined Carter, Ledyard as a partner on March 17. "Kathleen is an important addition to the corporate practice because of her substantial knowledge of investment companies," says chairman of the group, Robert McTamaney.