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Done deals

• The shareholders of AIM-listed cash shell XSN Plc have approved the reverse takeover of telematics company MarineTrack
• Europe’s biggest defence and aerospace company, BAE Systems Plc, has acquired software company, Detica Group Plc, for an estimated £538 million, in a move to expand its counter-terrorism business
• Russian billionaire and majority shareholder in Arsenal Football Club, Alisher Usmanov, has invested $100 million (£50.3 million) in Australian mining company Strike Resources Ltd via a share placement
• Ashdale Hotels has bought the historic Hazelwood Castle Hotel for an undisclosed sum. The Leeds-based hotel, which dates from the Thirteenth Century is Ashdale Hotels’ fifth acquisition to date
• Auctioneers Bigwood and Bond Wolfe’s Midlands operations have merged to form the biggest auction house outside of London
• County Durham-based ESP Plastics has been the subject of a £1 million management buy-out. The funds will be used to expand its production lines and move into new sectors
• The 300-year-old Merchant Lodge Hotel in central Glasgow has been bought by CCH Hotels. This will be the new owner’s first hotel in Scotland
• A management buy-out has created a new marketing agency in Birmingham. The new company, MADISONSOHO was formed from the marketing arm of the major print and communications specialist DG3
• Carpathian, the retail property investment company, has announced that it has acquired the management assets formerly owned by DDPT for £250,000

In the pipeline

• Telent is looking to expand its wireless infrastructure and gain presence in new markets, with the acquisition of Warwick-based communications infrastructure firm Alan Campbell Group for an undisclosed sum
• Reinsurance firm Swiss Re is in talks to buy Barclays Bank life insurance arm for a figure believed to be between £400 million and £750 million

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