Deals of the day-Mergers and acquisitions

(Adds Exxon, Biogen, Syngenta, SkyBridge Capital, Saudi Telecom and Abellio; Updates Lufthansa)

Jan 17 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2100 GMT on Tuesday:

** British American Tobacco has agreed a $49.4 billion takeover of U.S. rival Reynolds American Inc, creating the world's biggest listed tobacco company after it increased an earlier offer by more than $2 billion.

** Exxon Mobil Corp said it will pay up to $6.6 billion to double its holdings in the Permian Basin of west Texas and New Mexico, the largest oil field in the United States.

** Germany's Lufthansa is not in talks about Etihad Airways taking a stake in the German airline, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, denying an Italian newspaper report that said it was.

** Carlyle Group has agreed to become the largest shareholder in Johannesburg-based Global Credit Ratings (GCR), the U.S. buyout fund said on Tuesday, looking to broaden the pan-African ratings agency's services.

** Biogen Inc said it would pay Forward Pharma A/S $1.25 billion to license the Danish company's patents covering multiple sclerosis drugs, providing Biogen an insurance policy on future sales of Tecfidera, its blockbuster oral treatment for the disease.

** German nursing home operator Vitanas has been put up for sale by its family owners who want to focus on new healthcare ventures, sources close to the deal said.

** Syngenta, the Swiss pesticides and seeds group being taken over by state-owned ChemChina, does not expect antitrust regulators to force the Chinese merger partner to put its crop chemicals subsidiary Adama up for sale, Syngenta's chief executive said.

** Portag3 Ventures, a financial technology fund backed by Canada's Power Financial Corp, has invested an undisclosed amount in finance startup Street Contxt, Portag3's president said in an interview on Monday.

** Malaysia's Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), operator of some of the world's biggest palm oil plantations, may sell shares in publicly listed firms and some hotels in London in a review of investments to raise funds, its chairman said.

** SkyBridge Capital, the hedge fund investment firm founded by Anthony Scaramucci, will sell a majority of itself to RON Transatlantic EG and HNA Capital, the company said on Tuesday, four days after Scaramucci took a position in President-elect Donald Trump's administration.

** Saudi Telecom Co (STC) said it had completed procedures for the purchase of the remaining stake in Sale Advanced Co it does not already own for 400 million riyals ($106 million).

** Dutch state-owned public transport firm Abellio has sold a 40 percent stake in its UK train operator in eastern England to Mitsui & Co, making the Japanese company the latest foreign firm to invest in Britain's rail network.

($1 = 3.7505 riyals) (Compiled by Anya George Tharakan and Diptendu Lahiri in Bengaluru)