UPDATE 1-Market Chatter -- Corporate finance press digest

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BANGALORE Oct 12 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related stories were reported by media on Monday:

* Several U.S. companies have awarded stock options to top executives while engaged in merger negotiations, the Wall Street Journal said, citing an academic research paper and its own review of company filings. [ID:nBNG488027]

* Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP is planning to list up to eight companies it owns and sell at least five others, the Financial Times said on Monday. [ID:nLB614442]

* Barclays Plc (BARC.L)(BCS.N) is planning to spin off a 4-billion-pound ($6.35 billion) portfolio of complex credit assets as it presses ahead with a process to clean up its balance sheet, the Financial Times said on Monday. [ID:nLB382137]

* British bank Lloyds (LLOY.L) has lined up a syndicate of investment banks to underwrite an 11 billion pound ($17.6 billion) rights issue, the Sunday Times reported. [ID:nLB681307]

* China's Minsheng Banking Corp (600016.SS) has accelerated plans for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, aiming to get a hearing for the listing by month's end, local media reported on Monday. [ID:nHKG201566]

* Chinese state-owned metals conglomerate Chinalco does not intend to take a stake in UC RUSAL when the indebted Russian aluminium company lists shares in Hong Kong later this year, the South China Morning Post reported Monday. Last week a Russian newspaper reported Chinalco might be interested. [ID:nHKG225373]

* Ryanair (RYA.I) could use a potential acquisition of Aer Lingus (AERL.I) as a vehicle to buy Britain's bmi [BMID.UL] from Deutsche Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), Ryanair's chief executive was quoted as saying. [ID:nLB148967]

* British security software firm Sophos is set for a $1 billion flotation on Nasdaq next year, two years after abandoning plans to list in London because of market volatility, the Sunday Times reported. [ID:nLB159044]

* British gas producer BG Group (BG.L) has received an unsolicited bid for most of its 1.5 billion pound ($2.4 billion) power generation business and could announce a sale shortly, the Sunday Times reported. [ID:nLB152368]

* Israel's government in the coming weeks will begin selling off its 25 percent minority stake in Israel Discount Bank (DSCT.TA) to investors through packages of 5 percent at a time, the Ynet news website said. [ID:nLB169568]

(Compiled by Purwa Naveen Raman in Bangalore; editing by John Stonestreet)