Merrill Lynch mulling Pagine Gialle buy: report

MILAN (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch MER.N is considering buying Italian yellow pages publisher Seat Pagine Gialle PG.MI, Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported on Saturday citing financial sources.

Merrill has already conducted a due diligence study of the company, the newspaper said.

Lehman Brothers is advising Seat's main shareholders - a group of funds including Cvc, Bc Partners, Investitori Associati and Permira, which hold a combined 49.6 percent of the shares - the paper said.

Merrill Lynch and Seat Pagine Gialle were not immediately available for comment.