(Adds Aetna, Wal-Mart Stores, Twitter and others; updates Erste Bank )
June 20 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Monday:
** Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) WMT.N said on Monday it would sell its Chinese e-commerce business, Yihaodian, to China's JD.com Inc JD.O and create a strategic alliance that could help boost Wal-Mart's business in China. Seeking to shore up the cybersecurity services it provides to customers, Accenture Plc ACN.N has acquired an Israeli company and is establishing a research and development center in the country. The California Department of Managed Health Care approved Aetna Inc (NYSE:AET)'s AET.N acquisition of Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) HUM.N with conditions including the insurer's commitment to keeping premium increases at a minimum in the small group HMO business and to making about $50 million in community investments. Twitter Inc TWTR.N said it acquired London-based Magic Pony Technology, a machine-learning startup that specializes in working with images, to deliver better video and picture content. Technology news website TechCrunch cited sources as saying that the deal was worth $150 million. Buyout firm Francisco Partners and the private equity arm of activist hedge fund Elliott Management Corp are in advanced talks to acquire Dell Inc's software division for more than $2 billion, three people familiar with the matter said. China Vanke 2202.HK , the mainland's biggest property company by sales, said it will acquire a unit of Shenzhen Metro Group for 45.6 billion yuan ($6.9 billion) via a new share issue, making the state-owned subway operator its largest shareholder. Oil and natgas producer Marathon Oil Corp (NYSE:MRO) MRO.N said it agreed to buy PayRock Energy Holdings LLC for $888 million from venture capital firm EnCap Investments, boosting its presence in the Oklahoma basin. British investment firm Zegona ZEG.L said it would push ahead with talks to buy Yoigo after reaching agreement with the Spanish budget mobile operator's biggest shareholder Telia TELIA.ST . Four private equity funds have made it through to the final stages of an auction to buy the Italian wealth arm of Old Mutual OML.L as the financial services group presses ahead with a break-up plan, sources familiar with the matter said. Steinhoff International's SNHG.DE acquisition of a stake in British retailer Poundland PLND.L is good for the South African firm's credit profile, credit ratings agency Moody's Investors Service said on Monday. Austria's Palfinger Group PALF.VI on Sunday said it intends to buy Norway's TTS Group ASA TTSM.OL for 5.60 Norwegian crowns ($0.67) per share, in a move that would put its marine business among the top three global ship equipment suppliers. An investment group led by prominent Dubai businessman Mohamed Alabbar has agreed to buy a majority stake in Kuwait Food Co (Americana) FOOD.KW from the Kharafis, a wealthy Kuwaiti merchant family, for about $2.4 billion. Italy's Cairo Communication CAI.MI sweetened its all-share takeover bid for RCS MediaGroup RCSM.MI on Friday, as a battle with a group of existing RCS shareholders for control of the influential publisher intensified. Hungary's government and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development agreed on Monday to each acquire a 15 percent stake in the local unit of Austria's Erste Group Bank ERST.VI for a combined 77.78 billion forints ($282 million). A high-stakes trial will open on Monday to determine if Dallas billionaire Kelcy Warren's Energy Transfer Equity ETE.N can back out of a $20 billion agreement to buy rival pipeline operator Williams Cos Inc WMB.N . Chinese billionaire Chen Tianqiao has raised his stake in online lending platform Lending Club Corp LC.N following the recent ouster of founder and Chief Executive Renaud Laplanche. Siemens (NS:SIEM) SIEGn.DE and Spain's Gamesa GAM.MC agreed on Friday to combine assets to create the world's biggest builder of windfarms, with the German company paying 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) cash to Gamesa's shareholders to take a majority stake. Banca Popolare di Milano PMII.MI is to cut its stake in asset manager Anima Holding ANIM.MI to avoid having to launch a full takeover bid for the group, following a ruling on Monday by Italy's market watchdog Consob, sources familiar with the situation said. German billionaire businessman Friedhelm Loh does not plan to launch a counter offer for German industrial robot maker Kuka KU2G.DE , the target of a 4.5 billion euro ($5 billion) bid by China's Midea 000333.SZ , he told a German newspaper. Bayer AG BAYGn.DE , the German chemicals and healthcare company trying to acquire Monsanto (NYSE:MON) Co MON.N , is exploring a sale of its radiology supplies unit that could be worth more than $3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. India's HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co Ltd HDFS.NS has begun talks to acquire smaller rival Max Life Insurance Co Ltd in an all-stock deal to create the nation's top private-sector life insurer, kicking off consolidation in the $50 billion sector. Brazil's Santo Antônio Energia SA, one of the five largest hydroelectric projects in the country, has been informed by some of its shareholders of their plans to sell stakes in the dam, according to a securities filing.