Morning all, Craig Mc Glashan here with the Europe Wire from the London newsroom. We’re back after the bank holiday in the UK yesterday. H2 should be busy, according to sources – and September seems to have got off to a strong start.

We’ve got a series of deal announcements from this morning. Once we’ve rounded up today’s business, we’ll do a quick recap of some announcements from yesterday. In the lead, Veritas Capital has emerged as the frontrunner in a battle to take heat treatment and metallurgical services provider Bodycote private, after the board of the London-listed company today said it had agreed to the private equity firm’s latest offer.

The 940p per share offer values the company’s total equity at around £1.65 billion ($2.23 billion; €1.93 billion) and gives an enterprise value of around £1.85 billion. It gives a premium of 37.5 percent over the three-month average to May 21, when the Bodycote board addressed press speculation of a bid. Another agreement: Speaking of take-private tussles, Epiris has agreed on a deal for London-listed communication technology company Gamma Communications.

The offer is for 1,120p per share, which values Gamma’s equity at around £1.015 billion ($1.37 billion; €1.18 billion) and gives it an enterprise value of around £1.079 billion. It’s a premium of 53 percent to the company’s undistributed share price on April 7. There’s been other interest in the company.

Gamma Communications confirmed in August that Waterland Private Equity is among the firms in discussions to take the company private. Giacom, a telecoms services business backed by Inflexion, is acting in concert with Waterland, whereby it would acquire certain business divisions of Gamma. But the number of suitors has diminished.

In June, Oakley Capital and Providence Equity Partners withdrew from the potential bidding for Gamma. Mutares has been making a big push in the US and in its chemicals strategy, as CIO Johannes Laumann outlined to PE Hub earlier this year. Now, the firm has acquired Ameri Terpenes, the terpene ingredients business of Symrise.

Ameri Terpenes generates approximately $200 million in revenue and employs around 170 people. With manufacturing across two integrated US production sites in Jacksonville, Florida, and Colonels Island, Georgia, the business serves customers globally.