UPDATE 1-Market Chatter -- Corporate finance press digest

(Adds BHP item)

BANGALORE, July 15 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related stories were reported by media on Wednesday:

* Mining groups BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) (BLT.L) and Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) (RIO.L) are considering linking up their Australian coal operations following a deal to create a joint venture in iron ore, Australia's Herald Sun newspaper said. [ID:nLE629173]

* Belgium's Solvay (SOLB.BR) has narrowed the list of bidders for its pharmaceuticals business to Swiss company Nycomed [NYCMD.UL] and Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N) of the United States, FT.com reported on its website. [ID:nLE445137]

* The board of Australian conglomerate CSR Ltd (CSR.AX) still favours a stock market float of its $955 million-valued sugar business, though four overseas trading houses are eyeing bids if a trade sale goes ahead, Australia's Age paper reported. [ID:nSYD456901]

* Two companies controlled by Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho have sold a combined 1.25 percent stake in financially troubled Air Macau to a unit of China flagship carrier Air China (601111.SS), the South China Morning Post reported, citing sources. [ID:nHKG120837]

* South Korea's Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) plans to invest about 500 billion won ($389 million) in the biotech medicine business, a local internet news provider said on Wednesday, quoting a top policymaker. [ID:nSEO129910]

* Administrators for Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's (LEHMQ.PK) main European unit have finalized a plan to return about $13 billion in client funds that have been held up in legal proceedings since the investment bank collapsed last year, the Wall Street Journal said. [ID:nBNG437838]

* Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) is mounting a campaign to rehire several of the more than three dozen senior Merrill Lynch & Co investment bankers who quit after the firms merged, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the efforts. [ID:nBNG280193]