A potential deal between Paramount and rivals Sony and Fox to merge DVD operations would save costs for the studios amid a slump in sales. Hollywood studios are cutting expenses to cope with stagnant video sales and new technology that is steering people online. A portfolio manager called the potential move a “monumentally sensible thing to do” according to Reuters’ story here.

Deals announced on Wednesday include:

Britain’s International Power said on Wednesday it would sell its Czech business to the Czecho-Slovak investment firm J&T Group for 581 million pounds ($963 million), net of expenses, boosting its shares. 

 CEZ has agreed to purchase a 49 percent stake in heating plant Prazska Plynarenska from Czech-Slovak private equity firm J&T, the Czech power group said.

Asia-focused Standard Chartered is in talks to purchase banking assets in China and India owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday. 

Japan’s Shinsei Bank plans to buy rival Aozora Bank in a deal that brings together two loss-making lenders in hopes of building a stronger bank that can return to growth in both retail and corporate banking.

 World No. 2 brewer SABMiller will sell 10 percent of its South African unit to black investors in a deal worth $750 million to meet the country’s affirmative action rules, it said on Wednesday.  

 Saudi-based dairy firm Almarai Co said on Wednesday it has reached an agreement to buy all shares in Hail Agricultural Development Co (Hadco) widening its scope to the poultry business.

The bidding war for U.S.-based Borland Software Corp heated up on Wednesday as British software firm Micro Focus International Plc sweetened its cash offer to $1.50 per share from $1.15 per share, topping a proposal made by an unnamed bidder last week.

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