Also. . .

American Business Information Inc. of Omaha made an offer of $850 million, or $33 a share, for Metromail Corp., a direct marketer. The bid bested an acquisition agreement Britain’s Great Universal Stores had reached with Metromail. American Business, which provides business information products and data processing services, also said it filed a suit to block the Great Universal-Metromail merger.

* ITT Industries Inc. said it may sell one or more of its automobile parts units as it seeks to shed less profitable businesses and focus on its pumps and electronics operations. Analysts said that the units could fetch up to $3 billion and that potential buyers include TRW Inc. and Lear Corp.

* Southdown Inc. agreed to acquire Medusa Corp. for about $1 billion in stock, becoming the nation’s second-largest cement maker, behind Swiss-owned Holnam Inc. The acquisition would allow Southdown to increase production 52% at a low cost as a shortage of cement boosts prices.

* German drug and chemicals maker Bayer will build a $1.5-billion plant in Texas, abandoning plans to build the facility in Taiwan because of political opposition.