German diversified utilities Veba AG said on Monday talks regarding a purchase by Bell South of a stake in Otelo, the mobile phone joint venture between Veba and RWE, had been broken off. In April, Veba and RWE said they had reached an agreement in Principle under which Bell South would buy a 15.5-per cent stake in Otelo. In return, Bell South would transfer its 22.5 per cent stake in mobile phone company E-Plus to Otelo. Otelo is one of the largest private sector competitors to Deutsche Telekom AG in the fixed line telephone market. Veba and RWE said they and Bell South had agreed that Oteloand E-Plus, Germany's third largest mobile phone operator, should cooperate far more closely. Vodafone, an E-Plus partner, also agreed, the companies said.

Smiths in talks to buy US Biochem

Britain's Smiths Industries Plc is negotiating to buy Biochem International (BCI), a US maker of equipment which monitors pulse rates and oxygen blood levels, the Independentnewspaper said on Monday. It said the price under discussion was around $83 million. The newspaper quoted Smiths Industries chief executive Keith Butler-Wheelhouse as saying BCI "complements our medical systems activities perfectly, by strengthening our product portfolio and increasing our opportunities to supply small hospitals and clinics".

Canal Plus in Polish digital TV venture

Canal Plus said at the weekend its Polish subsidiary, two Polish broadcasters, and a telecoms operator had agreed to launch a common platform for digital television in Poland. It said the deal, with Polish public broadcaster TVP, commercial broadcaster Polsat and TPSA telecoms operator, involved creating a joint venture to transmit programmes from a Eutelsat satellite, which would be Poland's first such system. Audio and radio services would also be offered, Canal Plus said, adding its current analogue service has 250,000 subscribers.

Bass pondering over Grolsch buyout

Hotel and brewing giant Bass Plc isconsidering an approach for Dutch brewer Grolsch, which last week rejected a 370 million pound ($616.5 million) offer from Belgian rival Interbrew, according to media reports. The reports said that Bass had also emerged as a lead bidder for the Gleneagles hotel and golf complex, valued at around 80 million pounds. Bass already has a joint venture with Grolsch that gives it UK rights to the Dutch brand. The reports further said that the Anglo-Dutch tieup was morelikely to result in fewer job losses than the proposed Interbrew deal.

Vodafone eyes 40bn Airtouch deal

Vodafone, Britain's largest mobile phone operator, is considering a potential 40 billion ($66.65 billion) merger with the US's Airtouch, reports said. It said industry sources had confirmed the two firms held talks last year, but could not arrive at an agreement. But it added since then Vodafone's value had more than doubled, making a deal more viable. Vodafone was not immediately available for comment. The reports said analysts believedVodafone could turn the superior valuation of UK mobile phone companies compared with those on Wall Street to its advantage. Airtouch, based in San Francisco, is America's second biggest moblie phone company and is valued at 19 billion pounds compared with Vodafone's 23 billion pounds, the reports said.

Online shopping in Europe

European Internet users are cautious when it comes to online shopping. Only 12.1 per cent of them make purchases over the Internet. ``Internet Professionell,'' a Munich-based journal, reports this based on a study by the International Data Corporation (IDC). According to the survey, German internet users are leading in European terms with 18.7 per cent taking advantage of online shopping. At the other end of the table are the Danes with 4.7 per cent. The survey of 7,103 households also revealed that online buyers almost always use the computer at home (47.9 per cent) or at work (40.7). A further 28.8 per cent go online from schools and universities, the studysays.