Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions

Feb 2 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 2100 GMT on Thursday.

** Miner Xstrata is in talks with Glencore over an all-share merger of equals, it said on Thursday, confirming reports of a deal that could create a combined mining and trading group worth more than 50 billion pounds ($79 billion).

** Norway's Statoil wants to sell its stake in a giant 12.9 billion barrel oilfield in southern Iraq to Russia's Lukoil, and the Iraqi oil ministry has no objection "in principle", an Iraqi oil official said on Thursday.

** AIA Group was expected to name Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley as advisers for a possible bid that could be worth more than $6 billion for ING's Asian insurance operations, sources said on Thursday.

** Portugal has agreed to sell a quarter of power grid operator REN to China State Grid and 15 percent to Oman Oil for a total of 592 million euros ($781 million), Treasury Secretary Maria Albuquerque told a briefing.

** BioScrip Inc said it will sell certain assets of its community specialty pharmacies and centralized specialty and mail service pharmacy businesses to Walgreen Co, the largest U.S. drugstore chain, for about $225 million.

** American investment bank Jefferies Group Inc has snapped up historic British stockbroker Hoare Govett from Royal Bank of Scotland, building on its aggressive expansion in the London marketplace in the past three years.

** Private equity group Goldsmith said it was interested in buying all five refineries from Petroplus, Europe's largest independent refinery by capacity.

** PetroChina Co Ltd said on Thursday it has signed an agreement to buy a 20 percent stake in a shale gas project in Canada from Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the latest in a series of overseas acquisitions by Chinese state energy giants.

** China Investment Corp has acquired a minority stake in Washington-based asset manager EIG Global Energy Partners, the latest energy-related investment from China's $410 billion sovereign wealth fund.

** Private equity firm TPG Capital has held initial discussions with a group of eight banks to fund a takeover bid for Australian underwear maker Pacific Brands, according to a source familiar with the matter.

** Shares of Italian clothing retailer Benetton shot above the buyout price its controlling family is offering minority shareholders, as the market pins its hopes on the price being raised to reflect valuable real estate assets.

** Russian billionaire Roustam Tariko proposed to raise his stake in Polish vodka maker Central European Distribution Corp through two separate transactions, which would help CEDC with its debt, while giving Tariko control of the company's management in Russia.

** German wind turbine maker Nordex is close to finding a partner in China, its chief financial officer said, a move that would give it broader access to the world's largest wind energy market, as demand for the technology stagnates closer to home.

** NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse said they have terminated their merger plans, following the decision by the European Commission to block the proposed deal.