Buyout firm KKR & Co. may purchase about $400 million of Texas shale assets from Hilcorp Energy, according to reports.  New York-based KKR may partner with Hilcorp, an exploration and production company based in Houston, to develop the formation known as Eagle Ford in southern Texas, which has unconventional gas deposits. Unconventional gas is fuel trapped in shale formations, coal beds and impermeable sandstone rock. Eagle Ford is about 50 miles wide and 400 miles long, extending from TexasÔÇÖs southern border to the eastern part of the state.

SpainÔÇÖs Santander is set to acquire 318 high street branches from the UKÔÇÖs Royal Bank of Scotland as the only bidder left in a sale process that ends today.

Houston-based Spectra Energy has announced plans for a new 200 million cubic feet per day natural gas processing plant west of Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to serve producers in the growing Montney unconventional gas play.  The proposed plant will be built in two phases, with the first 100 million cubic feet of capacity coming on stream in late 2011, with the balance to be completed in early 2013.

The Nigerian arm of Africa's biggest mobile phone operator MTN has signed loan agreements worth $2.15 billion with 15 Nigerian and two other banks to fund expansion.

Samsung Electronics, AsiaÔÇÖs biggest maker of semiconductors, has announced it is to make a $3.6 billion investment in expanding capacity at its 12-inch chip plant in Austin, Texas.  The new facilities will be used to make large scale integration (LSI) chips. The company also plans to add 500 jobs at the plant, which is run by the Samsung Austin Semiconductor LLC unit.

Masdar, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi's Mubadala investment company, will join FranceÔÇÖs Total and SpainÔÇÖs Abengoa Solar in spending $600 million (Ôé¼504.2 million) on building the worldÔÇÖs largest concentrated solar power (CSP) plant.

Canadian miner Uranium One is selling a controlling stake to a Russian state-owned corporation in exchange for interests in two Kazakhstan uranium mines, plus US$610 million in cash.  Through the deal, Uranium One will acquire a 50 percent interest in Akbastau and a 49.67 percent interest in Zarechnoye from JSC Atomredmetzoloto, known as ARMZ. In return ARMZ, which already holds 23.1 percent of Uranium One's outstanding shares, will increase its stake in the Vancouver-based miner to at least 51 percent.

France Telecom and 19 partners will invest $700 million (approx. Ôé¼585 million) in bringing high-speed internet to 20 countries in western Africa, it has been announced.

Compton Petroleum has sold $150 million worth of natural gas production, located mostly in west-central Alberta, in an effort to reduce its debt levels. Compton said the properties, which are located in the Niton and Gilby areas, produce around 3,100 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per dayÔÇöaround 15 percent of the 19,800 boe per day it produced in the first quarter of this year. Together, they represent proven and probable reserves of around 9.4 million barrels.

Swiss-Swedish electrical engineering group ABB has made an offer to buy the UK maker of specialised electrical equipment, Chloride, for £860 million.