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In Play Today: Commerzbank to sell mBank; HKEX to raise cash for fresh LSE bid

S&P Global Market Intelligence presents In Play Today, a periodic summary of potential deal activity in the financial sectors of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. This summary, which is displayed according to the location of a target's headquarters, is based on information obtained by S&P Global Market Intelligence and may not be inclusive of all potential deal activity.

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Europe

* Germany's Commerzbank AG could sell its majority stake in mBank SA, with analysts cited by news agency PAP saying that PKO Bank Polski SA and Bank Pekao SA could be interested in acquiring the Polish lender.

* Commerzbank raised the price for its offer to buy the remaining stake in digital banking unit comdirect bank AG that it does not own yet, as part of a new strategy that the supervisory board already approved.

* Germany-based North Channel Bk GmbH & Co. KG reached an agreement with creditors that will allow the company to continue its business activities and eventually be sold to new investors. The bank announced the deal the same day it revealed that it was fined 110 million Danish kroner for its role in a dividend-stripping scheme.

* Banca Popolare di Bari SCpA CEO Vincenzo De Bustis said the Italian lender is expecting to complete the acquisition of a small bank and two other "instrumental vehicles" by the end of 2019.

* Businessmen Sergey Solonin and Boris Kim are looking to off-load their majority holding in Russian payment services provider Qiwi PLC. If there are no buyers eager to purchase the controlling stake, Qiwi's individual assets will be put up for sale, sources told Kommersant. Another source said they were not familiar with the owners' plan to sell a controlling stake in Qiwi, but added that the group was planning to sell its unit RocketBank LLC and pay-by-installment card business Sovest.

* Slovenia-based Nova Ljubljanska banka d.d. submitted the highest nonbinding bid for an 83.23% ownership in Serbia's Komercijalna banka a.d. Beograd.

Middle East

* Discussions are still continuing between National Bank of Bahrain BSC and Bahrain Islamic Bank BSC over a voluntary takeover offer of the latter's issued shares. NBB, which currently owns 29.22% of BIB, sent a nonbinding notice of potential interest to its Bahraini peer in 2018.

Rest of the World

* About half a dozen companies, including Germany's Allianz Group, are looking to acquire the Singapore and Vietnam businesses of Aviva PLC for a combined deal value of between $2 billion and $2.5 billion. Other potential buyers include Nippon Life Insurance Co. and Sun Life Financial Inc., among others. The discussions are in the early stages and terms could change, while Aviva is reportedly keen to complete a transaction by the end of the year.

* Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. is in talks to borrow between £7 billion and £8 billion of loans from several banks to back its proposed takeover bid for London Stock Exchange Group PLC. The Hong Kong exchange operator is looking to form a syndicate of several lenders, Bloomberg News reported.