(Adds StoneCo, Updates Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB))
Sept 1 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Tuesday:
** U.S. online wholesale retailer Boxed is exploring strategic options, including a sale or going public through a merger with a blank-check acquisition company that could value it at around $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Bertelsmann BTGGg.F is interested in U.S. publisher Simon & Schuster and would be ready to put in a bid when its owner, ViacomCBS VIACA.O , moves ahead with a sale, CEO Thomas Rabe was quoted as saying. French utility Engie ENGIE.PA is holding out for a higher bid price to sell its stake in Suez SEVI.PA to rival utility Veolia, three sources close to the matter said, adding that the firm was envisaging other options too. Finnish engineering firm Valmet VALM.HE , the biggest owner in valves maker Neles NELES.HE , has raised its stake in the company to 24.7%, according to an update on Neles' website which showed ownership as of August 31. EU antitrust regulators have resumed their investigation into Air Canada 's AC.TO proposed acquisition of rival Canadian carrier Air Transat TRZ.TO and set a deadline of December 11 for a decision. Siemens Energy has raised its savings target in an effort to raise profit margins only weeks before it will be spun off from parent Siemens SIEGn.DE and gain its own stock market listing. Vivendi VIV.PA has won an appeal in an Amsterdam court against a plan by Italy's top commercial broadcaster Mediaset to fold its domestic and Spanish businesses into a Dutch holding company, a court document showed. Oilfield services firm Schlumberger SLB.N agreed to sell its North America shale fracking business to rival Liberty Oilfield Services LBTR.N , unloading a unit that underperformed during the shale bust. Payments processor StoneCo Ltd STNE.O raised its bid for Brazilian software company Linx SA LINX3.SA by nearly 4% to 6.284 billion reais ($1.17 billion), topping a proposal from software firm Totvs SA TOTS3.SA last month.