1. Lehman Brothers Holdings will sell real estate company Archstone to Equity Residential (EQR) and AvalonBay Communities (AVB) for $6.5 billion, scrapping plans to take the unit public.

2. ConAgra Foods (CAG) is acquiring Ralcorp Holdings (RAH) for about $5 billion to create one of North America’s largest packaged-food companies.

3. U.S. medical device maker Baxter International (BAX) is near a deal to buy Swedish competitor Gambro for about $4 billion, according to a person familiar with the deal.

4. VistaJet Holding ordered 56 aircraft from Bombardier (BBD/B) in a deal valued at $3.1 billion. The luxury air-charter company took options for 86 more, which would raise the total to $7.8 billion.

5. Siemens (SI), the German maker of high-speed trains, is buying Invensys’s (ISYS) rail unit for $2.8 billion. U.K.-based Invensys, a two-century-old company, makes the software used to run London’s subway.

6. McGraw-Hill (MHP) is selling its education unit to Apollo Global Management (APO) for $2.5 billion as CEO Harold McGraw III remodels his family’s 124-year-old company around financial services.

7. Canada’s largest publicly traded buyout firm, Onex (OCX), will acquire USI Insurance Services from a Goldman Sachs Group (GS)-run private equity fund in a transaction valued at $2.3 billion.

8. BP (BP) is selling stakes in North Sea fields to Abu Dhabi National Energy for $1.1 billion, as the energy producer continues to dispose of assets in the wake of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

9. Chicago-based high-frequency trader Getco bid $1 billion for Knight Capital Group (KCG), the brokerage that was bailed out in August after losing more than $450 million in a trading malfunction.

10. A Burmese “pigeon’s blood” ruby and diamond necklace sold for $5.1 million, topping a Christie’s international jewelry sale in Hong Kong.

Necklace: Christie's/Bloomberg; Pastry: Rob Lawson/PhotoLibrary/Getty Images