June 27 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers,

acquisitions and disposals were reported by 0930 GMT on Friday:

** Australia's Santos said on Friday it had

granted exclusive due diligence for a period of six weeks to an

international consortium led by Abu Dhabi's National Oil Company

(ADNOC), which had offered $18.7 billion for the gas producer.

** Kazakhstan's ForteBank, the fifth-largest lender by

assets in the Central Asian country, has bought 100% of Home

Credit Bank, part of Czech investment group PPF, the two banks

said , without specifying the value of the transaction.

** JSW Paints will buy Dutch paint maker Akzo Nobel's

Indian arm for about $1.6 billion, in what will be the country's

biggest deal yet in the sector as competition intensifies

between established players and new entrants.

** European broadcaster RTL Group said on Friday it

would buy Sky Deutschland, in a deal that combines Sky's sports

and streaming offerings with RTL's news and entertainment brands

to create a business with 11.5 million paying subscribers.

** Unilever ( UL ) is paying $1.5 billion (1.09 billion

pounds) to buy men's personal care brand Dr Squatch from

private-equity firm Summit Partners, the Financial Times

reported , citing sources.

** Energy and industrial products supplier DNOW ( DNOW ) said on

Thursday it would buy MRC Global ( MRC ) in an all-stock deal

valued at $1.5 billion, including debt.

** Italian merchant bank Mediobanca MDBI.MI said on Friday it

would return 4.9 billion euros ($5.74 billion) to shareholders,

mostly in cash, over three years to 2028 as it seeks to fend off

a hostile bid from smaller rival Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

(MPS).

** Alternative asset manager Blackstone has bought

nearly $2 billion worth of commercial real estate loans from

regional lender Atlantic Union Bankshares AUB.N, further

extending its aggressive push into the CRE sector.

** Partners at U.S. law firms McDermott Will & Emery and Schulte

Roth & Zabel have voted to merge effective Aug. 1, the firms

said in a joint statement on Thursday.

** AI-focused broker consolidator Equal Parts has acquired

Assurely, an Austin-based agency serving startups and emerging

companies.

(Compiled by Rajarshi Roy and Apratim Sarkar in Bengaluru)