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Market Chatter -- Corporate finance press digest

Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:55am EDT

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LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related stories involving U.S. and European companies were reported by media on Friday:

* Glencore International AG [GLEN.UL], the Swiss-based commodities trader founded by Marc Rich to become one of the world's biggest private companies, is considering a stock market listing, the Financial Times reported. [ID:nSP449365]

* Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) Chief Executive Ken Lewis was approached by three former Merrill Lynch executives this year to discuss buying back some or all of their old company, but he politely rebuffed them, the Financial Times reported. [ID:nBNG451308]

* PetroChina (601857.SS), Asia's largest oil and gas company, is discussing an investment in the Ineos [INEOSP.UL] refinery at Grangemouth in Scotland, the Financial Times reported, citing local politicians. [ID:nSP421047]

* Lenders to Four Seasons Healthcare, the heavily indebted care homes group, are considering a last-ditch plan for a restructuring that would about halve its 1.5 billion pound debt. If there is no agreement, the company will be sold, the FT reported.

* Prudential (PRU.L) is expected to confirm it has offloaded its Taiwanese agency business after the life and pensions group received regulatory approval for the transfer to China Life (2823.TW) this week, the FT reported.

* AstraZeneca (AZN.L) Chief Executive David Brennan will reiterate his opposition to so-called mega-mergers, and will tell industry leaders on Friday that innovative partnerships with academia, charities and fellow businesses are key to the sector's future, the Daily Telegraph reported.

* Barclays (BARC.L) is facing intensifying pressure to sell off or ring-fence its Barclays Capital division amid calls for a regulatory crackdown on "casino" banking, the Daily Mail said.

* E.ON (EONGn.DE) is close to a sale of its THUEGA subsidiary, which could fetch between 3.5 billion and 3.8 billion euros, the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper reported.

* French engineering group Alstom (ALSO.PA) is considering joining forces with Schneider (SCHN.PA) to bid for the power transmission and distribution business of French nuclear group Areva (CEPFi.PA), Les Echos reported.

($1=.6149 Pound)

(Compiled by Quentin Webb; editing by Simon Jessop)



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