Market Chatter -- Corporate finance press digest

LONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related stories involving U.S. and European companies were reported by media on Friday:

* French defence groups Thales (TCFP.PA) and Safran (SAF.PA) are in talks to swap some duplicated assets, such as optronics or inertial navigation systems, the les Echos newspaper said [ID:nL212164].

* The banking merger between the Dutch operations of Fortis (FOR.BR) and ABN AMRO will no longer take place, the Dutch Finance Ministery has decided, a Dutch newspaper reported [ID:nLL209462].

* Hutchison Whampoa (0013.HK) unit 3 Italia held talks with Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) opn a merger but the two parties could not agree on the price, 3 Italia's chief executive was quoted as saying in an Italian newspaper [ID:nLL467656].

* A consortium led by China's sovereign wealth fund is in talks to buy a 49 percent stake in AIG (AIG.N) unit Alico in a deal that could be worth up to $10.6 billion, Japan's Nikkei business daily reported [ID:nT364861].

For deals of the day, click on [ID:SP347584]

(Compiled by Douwe Miedema; Editing by Greg Mahlich)