Cadence Design Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS) is the largest player in developing platforms for building integrated circuits. The company generates about $1.6 billion in revenues and has 5,100 employees.

Now, Cadence wants to get even bigger. Today, the company announced an unsolicited $1.6 billion bid for Mentor Graphics Corp. (NASDAQ: MENT). The offer is $16 per share.

Mentor is a big player in testing semiconductors, which should be a nice compliment to Cadence. And over the past couple months, Cadence has been trying to court Mentor.

But all advances were rejected. So why not go hostile?

• The Wall Street Journal reported that Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is looking for buyers for its Jaguar and Land Rover brands, which are valued at a combined $1.3B to $1.5B, but any sale is expected to take a month or longer.
• Airbus is in the final stages of a deal with U.S. Airways Group Inc (NYSE: LCC), which is expected to purchase about 30 A350 jetliners worth about $7B at list price, according to the Wall Street Journal.

• According to the U.K. Times, Imperial Chemical Industries plc (NYSE: ICI) rejected an all-cash offer of GBP$7.2B from Dutch chemicals giant Akzo Nobel NV (NASDAQ: AKZOY), saying the proposal "significantly undervalues" the company; sources believe The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) and Germany's BASF AG (NYSE: BF) could launch competing bids.
• BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE: BHP) is again interested in a $40B acquisition of Alcoa Inc (NYSE: AA), an aluminum producer, reported the U.K. Times.
• The New York Times reported that negotiations on a buyout of Cadence Design System Inc (NASDAQ: CDNS) by private equity firms Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts appear to have stalled over price.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that TPG Capital and Silver Lake are poised to buy telecommunications equipment company Avaya Inc (NYSE: AV) for about $17 a share; Nortel Networks Corporation (NYSE: NT) was also said to be interested.
• News Corporation's (NYSE: NWS) Rupert Murdoch said he is willing to go along with tighter editorial independence, but won't give in to a key demand from Dow Jones & Company Inc's (NYSE: DJ) controlling Bancroft family that they control an editorial oversight board that would protect this, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• Barron's Online's Trader section believes Service Corporation International's (NYSE: SCI) 90% surge since August is the result of funeral service companies' virtual immunity to a slowing economy or rising rates – the market's two biggest fears right now.

• The New York Times reported that software maker Cadence Design Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CDNS) is in talks with private-equity players that include Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the Blackstone Group about a possible sale of the company.
• Technology Web sites have discovered that Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) embeds customers' personal data into files the company uses to distribute music from its online iTunes music store, creating fears about privacy, the UK Times reported.
• The UK Times also reported that Royal Bank of Scotland Group (OTC: RBSPY) may be looking to sell Southern Water for GBP4B, a move that could lead to many more deals in Britain's privatized water industry.