Monsanto-backed Ceres hires Raymond James and Simmons & Company alongside Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital and Piper Jaffray.

Amira has had at least $40m in venture backing since it was founded in 2005.

New York-listed Allergan buys Vicept Therapeutics for $75m in cash initially and up to a further $200m in performance fees.

Goldman Sachs has missed out on being an underwriter of Cathay's initial public offering on the Nasdaq stock exchange, with Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities and Jefferies serving as co-lead underwriters.

Online gaming company Zynga updates regulatory filing to mention Google.

Maxim has agreed to pay $130m, excluding $34m of debt, for Austria-based SensorDynamics, which develops sensors for cars.

The biodiesel spin-off from West Central Cooperative has at least four corporate backers.

China-based cloud-based digital media company Xunlei, backed by IDG and US-based search engine Google, has postponed a $200m flotation.

Violin Memory, which includes Toshiba and Juniper Networks among its backers, reportedly expects to appoint a banker by September.

Dell acquires the company which was heading for a listing, that had excluded its largest shareholder Advanced Equities from an advisory role due to regulations defining this as a conflict of interest.