PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Feb 5

Feb 5 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* Michael Dell is close to finishing a risky $23 billion deal to take private the computer company he founded nearly 30 years ago, in an effort to remake Dell Inc for a post-PC era.

* The Justice Department in the United States sued Standard & Poor's Ratings Services late Monday, alleging the firm ignored its own standards to rate mortgage bonds that imploded in the financial crisis and cost investors billions.

* Investigators remain stumped on the cause of burning batteries aboard two Boeing 787 Dreamliners, fueling pessimism about how quickly the grounded aircraft can resume flying.

* British regulators are considering forcing banks to raise billions of pounds in fresh capital to address concerns around a key gauge of their financial health.

* Oracle Corp said it will acquire telecommunications gear maker Acme Packet Inc in a deal valued at $1.7 billion, making its biggest move yet into the market for equipment that transports Internet data.

* Bridgewater Associates told its investors that it will launch a new hedge fund this year, and had sold another minority equity stake in the firm to an unidentified buyer to help ensure its long-term viability.

* The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, expanding a high-profile investigation, is gathering data on a broad number of trades by corporate executives in shares of their own companies, according to people familiar with the probe.