1 Rowsley has agreed to buy 65 per cent of mechanical and electrical engineering firm Squire Mech for up to $19.5 million. It will be paid for by the issue of up to 130 million shares at 15 cents a share

2 South African mobile phone operator MTN Group named the head of Vodafone Europe as its new chief exec, bringing in an outsider less than two weeks after it agreed to a US$1.7 billion (S$2.28 billion) fine to settle a dispute in Nigeria.

3 China has approved two highway projects worth a total of 29.22 billion yuan (S$5.97 billion). The projects are a highway in the north-western province of Gansu, and another in the northern region of Inner Mongolia.

4 Iron ore producer Vale is holding discussions with Asian mining companies about a potential sale of a minority stake in its Brazilian iron ore assets that could fetch as much as US$7 billion (S$9.4 billion).

5 Temasek Holdings has reduced its share in China Construction Bank by selling 555 million H-shares last Thursday, reducing its stake to 4.81 per cent from 5.03 per cent. Temasek said it remains positive on China.