(Adds Morgans Hotel, Coventry Building, Freeworld Coatings, Jones Lang LaSalle, Caja Mediterraneo, RXi Pharmaceuticals)
March 31 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 2000 GMT on Thursday.
(For Reuters columns on deals, click on )
** Vodafone , the world's largest mobile operator by revenue, is to pay $5 billion in cash to buy out Essar Group from their Indian joint venture and bring an end to their increasingly fractious relationship. [ID:nLDE72U0FG]
** British housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has sold its North American business to a group of private equity firms for $955 million, in a long-awaited deal that will help it cut debt and focus on its UK business. [ID:nLDE72U0A8]
** British sweeteners and starches maker Tate & Lyle sold a mothballed U.S. ethanol plant in Iowa to Cargill for $57 million, leading to a gain of around 16 million pounds ($26 million). [ID:nLDE72T20A]
** Boutique hotel owner and operator Morgans Hotel Group Co has reached a deal to sell its Morgans and Royalton hotels in New York to Felcor Lodging Trust Inc , said a source with direct knowledge of the deal. [ID:nN31111633]
** Coventry Building Society, one of Britain's biggest mutually owned financial companies, has expressed an interest in Northern Rock, the nationalised British bank that is expected to be sold back to the private sector. [ID:nLDE72U1ZT]
** South Africa wants the country's competition watchdog to block the hostile takeover of Freeworld Coatings by Japanese group Kansai Paint . [ID:nLDE72U1MR]
** Jones Lang LaSalle , one of the world's largest real estate services companies, is buying a South African rival for an undisclosed amount, its first step into the fast-growing continent. [ID:nLDE72T0YN]
** Spanish savings bank Caja Mediterraneo (CAM) is seeking state funds after a planned merger fell through in a development seen as unlikely to hinder Spain's banking overhaul. [ID:nLDE72U0BF]
** RXi Pharmaceuticals Corp would buy Apthera Inc to gain access to the private firm's late-stage drug candidate to treat breast cancer, NeuVax. [ID:nL3E7EV1ZO] (Compiled by Aditi Sharma and Shravya Jain in Bangalore)