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A consortium led by global private equity firm TPG Capital Management LP has agreed to buy the property arm of Australian engineering services company UGL Ltd for A$1.215 billion ($1.14 billion), a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Friday. _0"> UGL put the unit DTZ on sale to cut debt as its main engineering services division faces declining revenues due to a slowdown in the Australian mining sector. TPG's consortium partners include Hong Kong private equity firm PAG and Canada's Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, the source added. A deal is expected to be signed as early as Friday, the source said, declining to identified as the decision is not public yet. UGL was not available for immediate comment, while TPG declined to comment. PAG and OTPP could not be immediately reached for comment. ($1 = 1.0620 Australian Dollars) (Reporting by Stephen Aldred ; Additional reporting by Byron Kaye in SYDNEY; Editing by Denny Thomas and Ryan Woo

Two of Merlin Entertainments' private equity backers sold 100 million shares in the British theme park owner for 366 million pounds ($615 million) on Friday, according to Deutsche Bank, one of the banks handling the sale. _0"> Plans to place the shares by CVC Capital Partners Ltd and Blackstone Group LP via Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley were announced after Thursday's close. Merlin is the world's second-biggest operator of visitor attractions behind Walt Disney with brands such as Madam Tussauds and Legoland and counted Blackstone and CVC as its biggest shareholders after Kirkbi A/S, according to Thomson Reuters data. ($1 = 0.5956 British Pounds) (Reporting by Steve Slater ; Editing by Pamela Barbaglia)

Alpha Bank, Greece's fourth-biggest lender by assets, said on Friday it agreed to acquire Citibank's retail banking operations in Greece at a price of 2 million euros ($2.72 million). _0"> "Under the agreement, the acquired operations comprise Citi's wealth management unit with customers' assets under management of about 2.1 billion euros, out of which deposits of about 1 billion euros, net loans, mainly credit card balances, of 0.4 billion, as well as a retail branch network of 20 units which serves 480,000 clients," Alpha said. The statement confirms sources telling Reuters on Thursday that the deal was imminent. ($1 = 0.7345 Euros) (Reporting by Harry Papachristou)

German premium auto maker BMW on Friday said its managers had met with executives from U.S.-based electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc to talk about potential cooperation on electric mobility. _0"> "Both companies are strongly committed to the success of electro-mobility and discussed how to further strengthen the development of electro mobility on an international level," a BMW spokesman said in a statement. BMW said the meeting had taken place on Wednesday but declined to comment in detail about the nature of the talks, or about which BMW executives has met with Tesla. (Reporting by Edward Taylor ; Editing by Jonathan Gould )

Alpha Bank, Greece's fourth-biggest lender by assets, said on Friday it had agreed to buy Citibank's loss-making retail operations in Greece for 2 million euros ($2.72 million), the latest deal in the sector's consolidation. Greece's debt crisis has hammered its banking industry, prompting foreign players, including Credit Agricole, Societe Generale and Portugal's Millennium bcp , to sell local units to Greek lenders in recent years. Hit by a sovereign debt restructuring and rising loan impairments during a deep six-year economic slump, the industry has consolidated down to four big players after a wave of acquisitions and the winding down of non-viable banks. The fortunes of National, Piraeus, Eurobank, and Alpha, which now control more than 90 percent of the banking market, have begun to improve after two recapitalisations and regained capital market access. On Friday Eurobank said it had hired five investment banks to arrange a possible bond sale, becoming t

William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management said it had filed a lawsuit seeking confirmation that a requested special shareholder meeting of Allergan Inc's shareholders would not trigger Allergan's poison pill takeover defence. _0"> The Botox maker has rejected a $53 billion joint offer from Ackman and Canadian drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International . Allergan said in April that its board had adopted a one-year shareholder rights plan to give it more time to consider takeover proposals. Allergan's shareholder rights plan will trigger if a person or group acquires 10 percent or more of its shares. The lawsuit filed in Delaware Court of Chancery followed a request to Allergan from Pershing Square on June 6 seeking confirmation that Allergan would not use its poison pill to impede Ackman's request for a special meeting. A response from Allergan's counsel on Thursday did not provide that confirmation, Pershing Square said. Allergan

Executives from German carmaker BMW and U.S.-based Tesla Motors Inc met this week in a move which could lead to the creation of charging stations usable for different types of electric cars. BMW and electric carmaker Tesla are seeking ways to raise the popularity of battery-powered vehicles, which consumers have shunned due to their limited operating range, the scarcity of charging stations and the time it takes to recharge them. "Both companies are strongly committed to the success of electro-mobility and discussed how to further strengthen the development of electro-mobility on an international level," a BMW spokesman said in a statement on Friday. BMW said the meeting had taken place on Wednesday but declined to comment in detail about the nature of the talks, or about which BMW executives had met with Tesla. In a conference call on Thursday, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said there had been talks with BMW about how to promote the use of electric vehicles and how t