The great British takeover trend has passed the $100 billion mark and shows little sign of slowing after a flurry of deals were announced on Tuesday. The largest was private equity firm Veritas Capital's agreed acquisition of industrial heat treatment specialist Bodycote Plc for around £1.65 billion ($2.2 billion). Elsewhere, buyout group Epiris offered about £1 billion to buy telecoms services provider Gamma Communications Plc, and Norway's DNO struck a roughly £292 million purchase of oil and gas company Capricorn Energy Plc.