Deals of the day-Mergers and acquisitions

The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 1100 GMT on Wednesday: ** Volkswagen AG is exploring purchasing a big stake in its Chinese electric vehicle joint venture partner JAC Motors and has tapped Goldman Sachs as an adviser on the plan, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. ** German retailer Metro is considering effectively paying more than 200 million euros ($225 million) to divest its loss-making Real hypermarkets, Handelsblatt