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Brazilian securities regulator CVM is considering changes to the rules governing investment funds in hopes of boosting transparency and financial innovation as interest rates are likely to stay near record lows for a long period of time. _0"> The agency is currently in talks with asset managers, asset custodians and other players in the country's $1.2 trillion industry to discuss potential modifications to the so-called Instrução 409, CVM President Leonardo Pereira said on Tuesday at a news conference in São Paulo. Changes could be broad or specific, depending on feedback from industry executives, Ana Novaes, a CVM director, said. In either scenario, potential changes will be discussed at a public hearing, she said. Any modifications to terms of the rules aim to help funds better cope with the benefits and risks of Brazil's historic decline in borrowing costs, which is forcing money managers to diversify into riskier instruments to propel returns.   Some of the r

The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Tuesday: ** Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners has ended a 1 billion pound ($1.5 billion) attempt to buy online betting exchange Betfair after the two companies failed to agree on price and strategy. ** Sony Corp, responding to a shareholder's call for it to spin off its entertainment operations, said the businesses were important to its growth strategy and "are not for sale." ** Chinese state-controlled power equipment maker XD Group is in early talks to buy General Electric Co's joint venture with Mexico's Xignux SA for up to $1 billion, a person familiar with the discussions told Reuters.   ** Belgian cancer diagnosis and therapy company Ion Beam Applications said it had provisionally agreed the sale of its drug discovery arm to a European private equity firm for 25 million euros ($32.5 million). ** Shares in Severn Trent surged to all-time highs after the Bri

H.I.G. - * H.I.G. completes first investment in Nordics: Freedom Finance * Hig - terms of the transaction were not disclosed. _0">

Alliance Boots, owner of Europe's biggest pharmacy chain, posted a 6.1 percent rise in year trading profit and said it was confident about its growth prospects. _0"> The firm said on Wednesday it made a trading profit of 1.27 billion pounds ($1.94 billion) in the year to March 31, though revenue was down 2.6 percent to 22.4 billion pounds as consumers across Europe grappled with government austerity measures and fallout from the euro zone debt crisis. Last year United States drugstore chain Walgreen purchased a 45 percent stake in Alliance Boots in a $6.7 billion cash and stock deal. It has an option to proceed to a full combination in two years.   Trading profit rose 6.8 percent to 865 million pounds in the group's health and beauty division, and increased 5.1 percent to 435 million pounds in its pharmaceutical wholesale division. Net borrowings were reduced by 1.12 billion pounds. "We continue to be confident about our prospects and ability to pursue pr

General Lighting Co, a Saudi Arabian company part-owned by Carlyle Group, plans to sell its shares on the Saudi stock market, paving the way for the private equity firm to exit its stake, two sources said. General Lighting is the largest lighting company in Saudi Arabia and Carlyle acquired its 30 percent stake in the firm for an undisclosed amount in March 2010.   Washington D.C.-based Carlyle, which had assets under management of $176 billion at the end of March, has hired Riyadh-based GIB Capital and law firm Latham & Watkins to help arrange the initial public offering (IPO), the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the matter is not public. Saudi Arabia is the largest Gulf Arab stock market and the only bourse in the region where initial share sales have been active in the last few years. Companies in Saudi Arabia generally offer 30 percent of their capital in IPO. A spokeswoman for Carlyle in London declined to comment. Dow Jones newswire reported the I

Pamplona: * Coinmach Service Corp and Air-Serv acquired by Pamplona Capital Management _0"> for $1.4 billion. * Pamplona Capital-deal was financed by a $795 million first lien term loan, as well as a $325 million second lien term loan

Pamplona Capital Management said it acquired two U.S.-based companies -- Coinmach Service Corp, a provider of laundry services, and AIR-serv Group, which provides vacuum services and tyre inflation for cars -- for a combined $1.4 billion. _0"> The two companies will be combined to form CSC ServiceWorks Inc, London-based private equity fund Pamplona said in a statement on Wednesday.   The transaction was financed by a $795 million first-lien term loan, as well as a $325 million second-lien term loan that was fully underwritten by Pamplona. Morgan Stanley was the financial adviser and Kirkland & Ellis the legal adviser to Pamplona. Evercore Partners and Deutsche Bank were the financial advisers to CSC ServiceWorks and White & Case was the legal adviser.