Oct 23 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 1000 GMT on Friday:
** The London Stock Exchange LSE.L expects to close its $27 billion purchase of data analytics company Refinitiv in the first-quarter of next year, as the group reported forecast-beating third-quarter income. EQT Corp (NYSE:EQT) EQT.N , the largest U.S. natural gas producer, is considering buying rival CNX Resources CNX.N , Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. U.S. firm Syncapay Inc has bought the North American unit of German payments company Wirecard AG WDIG.DE , Wirecard's insolvency administrator said. Link Administration Holdings LNK.AX rejected a takeover offer of A$2.76 billion ($1.96 billion) from private equity firms Carlyle Group CG.O and Pacific Equity Partners, but said it was willing to continue talks over the bid. Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) & Co WFC.N is exploring a sale of its asset management business, in what would be the U.S. bank's biggest shake-up since former Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) chief executive Charles Scharf joined as CEO last year, people familiar with the matter said. Japan's Hitachi Ltd 6501.T is considering selling about half of its 50.8% stake in Hitachi Construction Machinery 6305.T as part of its strategy to sell listed units with little synergy, the Nikkei business daily reported. Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Inc's WMT.N Flipkart will buy a 7.8% stake in India's Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd ADIA.NS for 15 billion rupees ($204 million), giving the ecommerce company a bigger foothold in the high-margin fashion business as it battles it out with rival Amazon.com AMZN.O in the country. Czech electricity producer CEZ has agreed to sell most of its assets in Romania to funds managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA), another step of pulling back from foreign markets, CEZ said. Barcelona-based cellphone mast operator Cellnex CLNX.MC agreed with Iliad ILD.PA to buy a 60% stake in the cellphone tower unit of Play PLY.WA , a Polish telephone company the French operator is in the process of taking over, Cellnex and Iliad said. OEP Coop, through its vehicle Titan BidCo, has increased the price it is offering to buy all shares of Italy's Techedge TEDGE.MI , a Milan-listed information technology company, in a bid that could now top 119 million euros ($140 million). Sweden's state-owned utility Vattenfall VATN.UL said it had offered to sell its electricity grid in Berlin, Stromnetz Berlin, to local authorities with the aim of bringing to an end a long-running legal dispute.