• The $3.2 billion merger between satellite companies Intelsat and PanAmSat Holding has been approved by the Federal Communications Commission, conditioned on Intelsat’s compliance with its national security and law enforcement commitments. The Department of Justice had approved the deal in May. The transaction is expected to close by July 3.
• PPR, the French conglomerate formerly known as Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, will sell its Printemps department store chain for $1.35 billion to a Deutsche Bank real-estate unit and Borletti Group of Italy.
• Aleksei Mordashov, the Russian billionaire and majority stakeholder of Severstal, Russia’s number-three steel company, has changed the terms of his offer for a stake in Luxembourg-based Arcelor, the world’s second-largest steelmaker. Mordashov expects to try to acquire a 25 percent stake in Arcelor, down from 38 percent; in addition, he would no longer contribute $1.57 billion in cash or seek to head Arcelor’s strategic management committee. Meanwhile, Arcelor agreed to talks with Mittal Steel, whose January bid for the company was rejected.
• An investor consortium including Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Thomas H. Lee Partners, and U.S. billionaire Haim Saban has submitted an offer for Univision Communications, the largest U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster. A rival group, including Mexico’s Grupo Televisa and a company controlled by Venezuelan investor Gustavo Cisneros, let a June 20 deadline pass without making an offer but reportedly still plan to bid. The Carlyle Group has removed itself from the running.
• General Electric has agreed to purchase Biacore International, a Swedish company that produces machines used in biomedical and drug discovery, for $390 million. Pfizer, a 41 percent stakeholder in Biacore, supported the deal.
• Energy Partners has offered $1.4 billion to acquire Stone Energy, an oil and natural gas producer, adding that its bid represents a 13 percent premium over an offer by Plains Exploration and Production that had been agreed to in April. Stone will accept the Energy Partners bid if Plains Exploration does not improve its offer by June 25; Energy Partners would pay a $43.5 million breakup fee to Plains.
• Nestle, the Swiss food giant, has purchased U.S.-based weight-loss company Jenny Craig for approximately $600 million from a private equity group including ACI Capital and MidOcean Partners.
• Nokia and Siemens have agreed to merge their telecom network equipment units by January 1, 2007. The resulting company, Nokia Siemens Networks, would have annual sales of $19.9 billion and be based in Helsinki.