UPDATE 1-Market Chatter -- Corporate finance press digest
(Adds Barratt item)
LONDON, May 6 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related stories involving U.S. and European companies were reported by media on Tuesday:
* Apollo, the U.S. private equity firm, approached British homnebuilder Barratt Developments (BDEV.L) to take a 300 million to 400 million pound ($549 million-$786.8 million) stake at a small premium to the current share price, The Times reported.
Barratt rejected the offer, the newspaper reported.
* Britain's watchdog, the Financial Services Authority, has more than doubled the number of criminal prosecutors pursuing insider dealing and other illegal market activity, the Financial Times reported.
In an interview with the paper, Sally Dewar, the head of the FSA's wholesale markets division, said the watchdog had taken a "conscious decision to focus more on criminal cases".
* The Association of British Insurers, whose members are among the leading investors in UK-listed firms, is to review executive pay at British banks in the wake of the credit crunch, the Daily Telegraph reported. There has been growing disquiet over the size of short-term bonuses, which critics argue promotes excessive risk taking.
* An estimated 18,000 jobs could go in the UK manufacturing sector because of the credit crunch, according to research by the British business lobby group, the CBI, the Daily Telegraph reported. (Compiling by Simon Challis; Editing by Rory Channing)
