• Millea Holdings, Japan’s largest insurance company, has agreed to acquire Singapore-based Asia General Holdings for $426 million. Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, a unit of Millea, will purchase a 15 percent stake in Asia General and take full control of the life and casualty insurer early in 2007.
• Oracle has agreed to purchase Oslo-based Net4Call, which provides software to telecom operators. Financial terms were not disclosed. Net4Call is Oracle’s third purchase of a telecom-software company this year.
• Software company Amdocs has agreed to acquire privately held QPass, a maker of software used by wireless carriers. The transaction, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close by the end of June.
• Apache, a U.S. oil and gas company, has agreed to acquire BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil and gas fields for $1.3 billion in cash. The deal, pending government approvals, is expected to close by the end of the second quarter.
• Pogo Producing, a developer and producer of oil and natural gas, has agreed to acquire Latigo Petroleum for $750 million in cash. Latigo, a privately held exploration and production company, was formed by Latigo Management, Warburg Pincus, and JPMorgan Partners in 2002. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in May.
• Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to acquire athletic and sporting goods company Russell Corp. for about $600 million in cash; Russell shareholders will receive $18 per share. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2006, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals.
• In a hookup of telecoms, Level 3 Communications has agreed to buy ICG Communications for $163 million in cash and stock. Level 3 will issue $127 million in unregistered shares and pay $36 million in cash for closely held ICG.
• TD Banknorth, the U.S. arm of Canadian company TD Bank Financial Group, has agreed to purchase Interchange Financial Services for $480.6 million in cash. To finance the acquisition, TD Banknorth will sell 13 million shares valued at $405.2 million to its parent company. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2007.
• Toll Holdings, the largest freight company in Australia, has agreed to acquire Patrick Corp., the country’s largest shipping-cargo handler, for $4.2 billion. Last August, a lower, hostile bid was unsuccessful.