(Adds ASR, Group Five, Linde , Air Berlin, Euroports)
Oct 20 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Friday:
** Shares of Dutch insurer ASR ASRNL.AS spiked in afternoon trading on Friday after Bloomberg reported that Aegon had approached the company for a possible takeover but was rebuffed. South African construction company Group Five GRFJ.J let a 1.6 billion-rand ($116 million) offer from Greenbay Properties GFP.MZ , for some of its assets lapse at 1500 GMT, Group Five said on Friday, causing its shares to fall more than 14 percent. German industrial gases group Linde LING.DE has passed an important threshold in its exchange offer for the planned $80 billion merger with U.S. peer Praxair (NYSE:PX) PX.N . Qatar's diplomatic crisis is holding up the sale of a shipping company it part owns, one of the latest signs of an emerging corporate fall-out that Doha is facing after Arab countries cut relations in June, sources familiar with the matter said. Talks over Air Berlin's AB1.DE remaining assets will continue over the weekend, with the goal of presenting a proposal to the insolvent German carrier's creditors on Tuesday, Air Berlin Chief Executive Thomas Winkelmann said. A consortium of investors has appointed Citi C.N and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) GS.N to sell Euroports, which could be valued at about 1 billion euros ($1.18 billion), sources familiar with the process said. E*Trade Financial Corp ETFC.O plans to spend $275 million to acquire a firm that provides custody services and technical support to financial advisers, the discount brokerage firm said on Thursday. Activist investor William Ackman, currently battling for board seats at Automatic Data Processing Inc ADP.O , on Thursday said the human resource software company should buy rival Ceridian, in a move that could woo customers with a better product. Russia's biggest oil company, Rosneft ROSN.MM , has agreed to take control of Iraqi Kurdistan's main oil pipeline, boosting its investment in the autonomous region to $3.5 billion despite Baghdad's military action sparked by a Kurdish vote for independence. South Korea's Ssangyong Motor Co Ltd 003620.KS said it is reconsidering establishing a joint venture in China due to diplomatic tension between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of a U.S. missile defence system. British Business Secretary Greg Clark will hold talks in Canada to discuss Airbus SE's AIR.PA plans to buy a majority stake in Bombardier's BBDb.TO C-Series jetliner program aimed at helping it avoid high U.S. import tariffs. The world's largest oil trader Vitol Group is nearing a deal to buy Noble Group's NOBG.SI global oil liquids business, which analysts had valued at about $1 billion, three people familiar with the matter said.