Market Chatter -- Corporate finance press digest

LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related stories involving U.S. and European companies were reported by media on Monday and over the weekend:

* Anheuser-Busch InBev INTB.BR has picked private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts (KKR) [KKR.UL] as the preferred buyer of South Korea's Oriental Brewery, a report by online news outlet MoneyToday said. It cited an unnamed industry source as saying that KKR had revised upwards its bid price for the beer maker to more than $1.9 billion and had accepted most of InBev's demands. [nSEO372553]

* Private equity house Terra Firma [TERA.UL] plans to lodge a bid for UK airport operator BAA's London's Gatwick Airport, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported, without citing a source. [ID:nLP395039]

* Citigroup Inc (C.N) plans to sell Nikko Asset Management Co separately, not bundled with Nikko Cordial Securities Inc as previously speculated, the Nikkei financial daily reported. [ID:nN25474253]

* American International Group Inc (AIG.N) has received bids from three groups for its aircraft leasing business, International Lease Finance Corp (ILFC), valuing it at less than $5 billion, the Financial Times reported. [nN26497642]

* U.S. investment bank Lazard Ltd (LAZ.N) aims to launch a 5-billion-rupee ($100 million), India-focused fund to buy minority stakes in mid-size companies, The Economic Times reported. [nBOM393629]

* Cobra Beer Chief Executive Adrian McKeon has left the company ahead of an imminent breakup, amid speculation of a sale of the UK arm to Molson Coors (TAP.N), the Times newspaper reported. [nLQ704647]

* Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) denied a report by French newspaper Liberation that it wrote down 5 billion euros ($7.8 billion) in assets last year as a result of trading at one of its unit and was left with a similar amount in toxic products. [nLQ673788]

* Fiat (FIA.MI) has pledged to maintain all four German production sites of General Motors' (GM.N) Opel unit should the Italian car maker acquire Opel, German magazine Der Spiegel reported, citing a source familiar with Fiat's plans. [nLQ670881]

* The UK government is to sell off Northern Rock (NRKx.L) by the end of the year in a bid to reclaim taxpayers' cash, The Sunday Times said. The paper said advisor Credit Suisse has started to draw up the sale plan, which is linked to moves to split the nationalised bank in two.[ID:nLQ395052]

* Barclays (BARC.L) is in the early stages of attempting to refinance its 20 billion pounds ($39.67 billion) exposure to bond insurers, The Sunday Times reported. [nLQ601523]

* Centrica (CNA.L) may have a battle on its hands for Venture Production VPC.L with three other European utilities in talks over a possible bid, The Sunday Times said. [nLQ535465]

* Several potential bidders are interested in buying Harbinger Capital Partners's 20 percent stake in The New York Times Co (NYT.N), The Wall Street Journal reported. [nN25257005] (Compiled by Steve Slater; editing by Karen Foster)