AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) confirmed an AdWeek report that it has retained investment bank Allen & Co. and law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz – and that it had met with Marty Lipton, a noted M&A attorney with WLRK. AOL shares rose around 9% on the news. www.aol.com
Bloomberg LP has agreed to acquire legal news and research group Bureau of National Affairs for $990 million. It would be Bloomberg’s largest-ever acquisition.
Rio Tinto and Mitsubishi Corp. have increased their joint bid for all the shares in Australian mining company Coal & Allied that they won’t already own, from $1.6 billion to around $1.64 billion.
Cameco Corp., a Canadian uranium company, has agreed to acquire smaller rival Hathor Exploration Ltd. for around C$520 million in cash, or C$3.75 per share (40% premium to yesterday’s closing price).
Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) has agreed to acquire Arcadian Management Services, an Oakland, Calif.-based Medicare Advantage HMO with $622 million in 2010 revenue. No financial terms were disclosed. Arcadian has raised VC funding from such firms as Acacia Venture Partners, Three Arch Partners and Morgan Stanley Venture Partners. www.arcadianmgt.com
Verizon Communications has acquired CloudSwitch, a Burlington, Mass.-based provider of cloud software for the enterprise. No financial terms were disclosed. CloudSwitch had raised over $15 million in VC funding, from firms like Atlas Venture, Matrix Partners and Commonwealth Venture Partners.www.cloudswitch.com
THURSDAY, AUGUST 26
Vocalocity, an Atlanta-based provider of hosted VoIP services to small businesses, has merged with Herndon, Va.-based rival Aptela. No financial terms were disclosed. Vocalocity has raised over $12 million in VC funding from Noro-Moseley Partners, Pittco Capital Partners and Imlay Partners. Aptera is backed by JMI Equity. www.vocalocity.com
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24
CAE Healthcare, a unit of CAE (NYSE: CAE) has acquired Medical Education Technologies Inc., a Sarasota, Fla.–based provider of medical simulation technologies and educational software, for $130 million. Sellers include Baird Capital Partners and Thrivent Financial. www.meti.com
Accenture (NYSE:ACN) has acquired Duck Creek Technologies, a Bolivar, Mo.–based provider of software solutions for the property and casualty insurance industry. No financial terms were disclosed. Sellers include FirstMark Capital. www.accenture.com
Par Pharmaceutical Cos Inc. (NYSE: PRX) has agreed to buy Irvine, Calif.-based generic drugmaker Anchen Pharmaceuticals for $410 million in cash.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 23
H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB) has agreed to sell its consulting unit to McGladrey & Pullen for approximately $610 million.
Aventis Pharma, an Indian unit of France’s Sanofi, plans to acquire the OTC business of Universal Medicare for around $110 million, according to Reuters.
Engine Yard Inc., a San Francisco-based Ruby on Rails developer, has acquired Dublin-basedOrchestra Platform Ltd., according to VentureWire. No financial terms were disclosed. Engine Yard backers include Amazon.com, Bay Partners, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, New Enterprise Associates and Presidio Ventures. www.engineyard.com
RealPage (Nasdaq: RP), a Carrolton, Texas-based provider of online property management systems for the multi-family housing market, has acquired Multifamily Technology Solutions, operator of an online listing service for rental properties and a suite of syndication and organic lead generation tools. The deal is valued at around $74.4 million, including $63.6 million in cash. MTS has raised VC funding from such firms as Split Rock Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, Marchus and Millichap Venture Partners and Trinity Ventures. RealPage shareholders include Apax Partners, Advanced Capital Partners and Camden Partners. www.realpage.com
Inrix, a Seattle-based traffic information technology company, has acquired completed its take-private acquisition of UK-based ITIS Holdings PLC. Inrix recently raised $37 million in VC funding from August Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers’ Green Growth Fund. www.inrix.com
Omnicare Inc. (NYSE: OCR) has agreed to acquire said it offered to buy smaller rival PharMerica Corp.(NYSE: PMC) for $441 million in cash. The $15 per share price represents a 37% premium to yesterday’s closing price for PharMerica shares. www.omnicare.com
MONDAY, AUGUST 22
Skype, the VoIP company that recently agreed to be acquired by Microsoft, has agreed to acquire GroupMe, a New York-based provider of mobile group messaging services. No financial terms were disclosed, although All Things D puts the price-tag at $85 million. GroupMe was founded a year ago, and has raised just over $11 million from Khosla Ventures, First Round Capital, Lerer Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, SV Angel, Founder Collective and Betaworks. www.skype.com
Cisco has agreed to acquire the service fulfillment software assets and associated employees from the UK subsidiary of Compel Corp. The deal is valued at $31 million in cash. www.cisco.com
Endeavour Mining Corp. of Canada has agreed to acquire Australia’s Adamus Resources for C$313.4 million in stock. Both companies mine for gold in West Africa.
WPP Group (Nasdaq: WPPGY) has agreed to acquire Rockfish Interactive Corp., a Rogers, Ark.-based digital marketing agency. No financial terms were disclosed. Rockfish launched a seed investing arm called Rockfish Brand Ventures earlier this year, and in May added mobile gaming ad platform Tap Me as its first portfolio company. www.rockfishinteractive.com
Apollo Global Management is considering a sale of Midland, Texas.-based Parallel Petroleum to South Korea-based Samsung C&T for around $920 million, according to multiple press reports.
Rhino Resource Partners LP (NYSE: RNO) has agreed to sell certain mining assets and related liabilities located in the Phelps, KY area of Rhino’s Tug River mining complex for $20 million to an undisclosed buyer. Rhino’s general partner is Wexford Capital. www.rhinolp.com
