Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions

Feb 2 - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 0530 GMT on Tuesday.

** Philippine insurance firm Philplans First has bought a 5.3 percent stake in geothermal company Energy Development Corp , the company's president said. To read more, please double click on [ID:nSGE611016]

** South Korea's National Pension Service said it planned to buy a 12 percent stake in London's Gatwick Airport for around 100 million pounds to increase investment in alternative assets. [ID:nN01215533]

** Temporary-staffing services provider Spherion Corp <SFN.N> said it would acquire executive services firm Tatum LLC for $46 million in cash and stock, to expand into the executive consulting market. [ID:nSGE6102MK]

** Royal Dutch Shell Plc <RDSa.L> plans to make the biggest-ever foray into biofuels by an oil major, striking a deal with Brazil's Cosan <CSAN3.SA> to create a $21 billion a year ethanol joint venture. [ID:nN0163545]

** Three U.S. private equity firms have been shortlisted in the final round of bidding for Morgan Stanley's <MS.N> more than $1 billion stake in China International Capital Corp, a holding the Wall Street bank has been trying to sell since late 2007. [ID:nHKU000139]