(Adds Mattress Firm, Precision Drilling , Intu Properties , Salini Impregilo , Mediaset , Engineering for Petroleum and Process Industries)
Oct 5 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Friday:
** Russian farming conglomerate Rusagro AGRORq.L said it had acquired the rights to purchase a controlling interest in Quartlink Holding Limited which owns the holding company Solnechnye Producty. Steinhoff's SNHJ.J Mattress Firm Inc, the largest U.S. mattress retailer, has filed for voluntary bankruptcy protection, giving it breathing room to restructure and shore up its finances as its South African parent company fights for survival. Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Group LP BX.N said it has agreed to acquire life sciences investment firm Clarus, in an effort by the world's largest alternative asset manager to scale up its investments in healthcare. North American drilling contractor Precision Drilling Corp PD.TO said it would buy Trinidad Drilling Ltd TDG.TO in a deal valued at C$1.03 billion ($796 million), trumping a hostile bid from rival Ensign Energy Services ESI.TO . Intu Properties INTUP.L shares jumped more than 27 percent on Friday, lifted by news of a potential cash takeover offer for the business as it grapples with a downturn in Britain's bricks-and-mortar retail sector. Italy's Salini Impregilo SALI.MI is working with Bank of America Merrill Lynch (NYSE:BAC) BAC.N and advisers Vitale & Co on options for a possible full or partial takeover of troubled builder Astaldi AST.MI , sources close to the matter said. Italian broadcaster Mediaset MS.MI and infrastructure fund F2i successfully took over Italian masts group EI Towers EIT.MI as investors tendered shares equivalent to 97.45 percent of its capital, preliminary data published by the Milan bourse showed. Egypt has signed an agreement with three banks to manage the sale of a 24 percent stake in state oil company Engineering for Petroleum and Process Industries (ENPPI) on the Egyptian stock exchange, the petroleum ministry said. Hootsuite Inc, a Canadian company that describes itself as the world's most widely used platform for managing social media, is exploring a sale that could value it at more than $750 million, people familiar with the matter said.