PRESS DIGEST-Financial Times - March 24

March 24 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Headlines

• Estée Lauder in talks to combine with Jean Paul Gaultier owner Puig

• Danone to buy meal-in-bottle maker Huel in $1.16 billion deal

• Starmer says UK government ‘finalising’ defence plan, but no date yet

• EU and Australia clinch trade and security pacts

Overview

• U.S. cosmetics giant Estée Lauder EL.N is in talks to combine with Spanish beauty group Puig PUIGb.MC, which is behind designer brands including Jean Paul Gaultier and Dries Van Noten, to create a more than $40 billion company.

• French consumer goods group Danone DANO.PA has agreed to acquire Huel, the UK producer of milkshake-style meal replacements, for about 1 billion euros ($1.16 billion) as it pushes deeper into the fast-growing market for fortified food and drinks.

• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has acknowledged he is yet to “put the funding in place” to move Britain to a “war footing”, as he insisted he was “finalising” the UK government’s repeatedly postponed defence investment plan.

• The EU and Australia have signed long-awaited trade and security deals as they seek mutual support to cope with pressure from China and the U.S.

($1 = 0.8630 euros)