Deals of the day-Mergers and acquisitions

Nov 19 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2130 GMT on Wednesday: Palo Alto (PANW.O) said it will buy cloud management and monitoring company Chronosphere for $3.35 billion, as the cybersecurity firm looks to strengthen its AI offerings.

Investor Artisan Partners is unhappy with Axalta Coating Systems’ (AXTA.N) plan to combine with AkzoNobel (AKZO.AS) in an all-stock deal that would create a paint industry giant with an enterprise value of $25 billion, according to a letter to shareholders.

King Risk Partners has acquired North Carolina-based independent agency Stuart Surles Insurance and Massachusetts-based Acacia Insurance.

Adobe (ADBE.O) and Qualcomm (QCOM.O) said they are partnering with Humain, the artificial intelligence firm backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, to help the AI company develop tools for generating content in Arabic and for the broader Middle East.

Electric component maker Atkore (ATKR.N) is considering options including a potential sale after it came under activist investor pressure, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Medical device maker Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N) is nearing a potential takeover of cancer test maker Exact Sciences Corp (EXAS.O) , Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Saudi and U.S. officials touted billions of dollars in new investments and growing financial ties between the two countries, coinciding with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington.

Tokio Marine will focus on bolt-on acquisitions of around $1 billion or less as high valuations in the U.S. specialty market mean the Japanese insurer is cautious on larger deals, a senior executive said.

Cameroon has acquired British private equity firm Actis’ 51% stake in power utility Eneo for 78 billion CFA francs ($139 million), the finance minister said, in a deal giving the government 95% control of the company.

Oil majors TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) and Chevron (CVX.N) have emerged as front-runners in the auction for a 40% operating stake in Galp’s (GALP.LS) Mopane discovery in Namibia, four sources told Reuters.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O) , Cisco Systems (CSCO.O) and Saudi Arabian artificial intelligence startup Humain are forming a joint venture to build data centers in the Middle East and have landed their first customer, CEOs at the three companies told Reuters in an interview.

Adobe (ADBE.O) will acquire software platform Semrush (SEMR.N) for $1.9 billion, the companies said, as the Photoshop maker looks to strengthen its marketing tools and attract brands with generative artificial intelligence products.

State-owned China International Capital Corp (CICC) plans to merge with Dongxing Securities and Cinda Securities via an A-share swap, the company said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Alkermes <

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• said it has sweetened its offer to buy Avadel Pharmaceuticals <

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, valuing the sleep disorder drugmaker at up to $2.37 billion after a competing proposal from Denmark’s Lundbeck (HLUNa.CO) .

North Sea oil and gas company Ithaca Energy (ITH.L) announced an agreement with oil major Shell UK (SHEL.L) to buy a 50% interest in Tobermory gas discovery, located in the West of Shetland basin, offshore Scotland.

Warner Bros Discovery’s (WBD.O) board wants Paramount Skydance (PSKY.O) to sweeten its latest bid of $23.5 per share to about $30 apiece, Axios reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Mexico’s Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR) (ASURB.MX) signed a contract to buy the airport portfolio of Brazilian infrastructure operator Motiva (MOTV3.SA) for 11.5 billion reais ($2.16 billion), including net debt, Motiva said.