Financial Times

* Terra Firma, the private equity firm run by Guy Hands, is putting the Odeon UCI cinema chain up for sale in a deal likely to be valued at between £700 million and £1 billion.

* Vodafone is to pay $5 billion to buy the Essar conglomerate out of the UK mobile phone group’s Indian business.

* Bwin, the Austria-based sportsbook specialist, and UK-based Party Gaming merged to create the world’s biggest listed online gambling company on Thursday.

* Taylor Wimpey has agreed the $1 billion sale of its North American business to TMM Holdings Limited Partnership, the property investor backed by TPG Capital and Oaktree.

* All3Media, the UK’s largest independent television producer, has appointed UBS to conduct a strategic review that is likely to result in a sale of the business with a price range of between £600 million and £750 million.

* Business angels, who take stakes in fledgling enterprises, are poised to receive a £50 million handout from the regional growth fund.

* Plans to sell a stake in Urenco, the nuclear fuel manufacturer, to raise £1 billion for a green investment bank have stalled after the Japanese nuclear crisis.

* Delphi Automotive has redeemed equity stakes worth $4.4 billion held by GM and the US government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

The Lex Column

* US energy goals: bold but old – Barack Obama wants to slash American oil imports by a third by 2025 in a plan that is rich in boldness it lacking in originality.

* Ireland’s four surviving banks require €24 billion of new capital, bringing the amount of public money poured down the drain since 2008 to €70 billion.