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(Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Thursday:

Two former top aides to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday he should approve a $15.1 billion bid by China's CNOOC Ltd to take over Canadian oil producer Nexen Inc, saying the benefits outweigh the risks.

Spanish power firm Iberdrola is negotiating the sale of a minority stake in its UK electricity grid, valued at 4.5 billion pounds ($7.27 billion), as part of its strategy to cut debt, newspaper Expansion reported on Thursday.

Kirin Holdings Co is expected to sell its 15 percent stake in Singapore's Fraser and Neave Ltd for 120 billion yen ($1.54 billion), the Nikkeibusiness daily reported.

German car maker Volkswagen said it is still interested in buying Italian car maker Fiat's Alfa Romeo unit despite comments by Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne that the brand is not for sale.

Plans for Fiat SpA to merge with Chrysler Group LLC will not be affected by a lawsuit over the price Fiat is to pay for an additional 3.3 percent stake in the U.S. automaker, Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of both Fiat and Chrysler, said on Thursday.

Dean Foods Co confirmed on Wednesday that it is weighing a sale of its Morningstar division, in a deal that could be worth more than $1 billion and lead to a break-up of the largest dairy company in the United States.

PTT Exploration and Production Pcl (PTTEP) said on Thursday its $3.1 billion share offer, Thailand's biggest equity sale ever, will now only be available to existing shareholders as it sought to erase concerns about potential dilution.

Hyundai Heavy Industries and Korean Air Lines have submitted preliminary bids for a stake in Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) worth an estimated 1.2 trillion won ($1.1 billion), KAI's largest shareholder said Thursday.

Russian oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Sistema said on Thursday it would buy railway freight operator SG-Trans for around 23 billion roubles ($733.02 million) after winning a state privatisation auction.

U.S. buyout firm Cerberus Capital Management LP may sell its 55 percent stake in Japan's Aozora Bank Ltd , the lender said on Thursday, sending its shares down as much as 13 percent.

Chinese economy hotel chain 7 Days Group Holdings Ltd said a group led by its co-chairmen has proposed to take it private in a deal valued at $634.7 million.

Italian private equity fund Clessidra's non-binding offer for broadcaster Telecom Italia Media is worth less than 450 million euros ($578 million), two sources close to the situation said on Thursday.

Tempur-Pedic International Inc TPX.N will acquire rival Sealy Corp ZZ.N for about $242 million and take on its debt of about $750 million, as the once-dominant specialty mattress maker seeks to fend off rivals by broadening its product range.

Ralcorp Holdings Inc is exploring the sale of its remaining 20 percent stake in Post Holdings Inc, the cereal maker it spun off earlier this year.

The proposed sale of the stake, announced on Thursday, would be worth about $200 million at Post's closing share price on Wednesday.

Australia's top supermarket chain Woolworths Ltd agreed to sell its Dick Smith Electronics chain in Australia and its Indian wholesale venture for a combined A$55 million ($56.88 million) under a plan to exit the consumer electronics segment.

SK Telecom Co Ltd, South Korea's top mobile operator, said on Thursday it will postpone a proposed sale of a 437.3 billion won ($390 million) part of its stake in steelmaker POSCO, citing market conditions.

Pan Asian insurer AIA Group Ltd struck its maiden M&A deal as an independent company by agreeing to buy the bulk of British insurer Aviva's Sri Lanka operation in a deal valued at $109 million.

Invesco Ltd is set to buy a 49 percent stake in the asset management unit of India's Religare Enterprises Ltd , controlled by billionaire brothers Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, for about 4.5 billion rupees ($84 million), a source with direct knowledge of the deal said.

Israeli property developer Azrieli Group is acquiring the remaining 39.4 percent stake in Granite Hacarmel it does not already own for 318 million shekels ($81 million), the company said on Thursday.

Cosmetics company Physicians Formula Holdings Inc said it will be bought by privately held peer Markwins International Corp for about $75 million in cash.

Britain's biggest sporting goods retailer Sports Direct is to buy 60 stores of debt-laden rival JJB Sports in a transaction that will safeguard up to 1,500 jobs, a source close to the deal told Reuters.

Danish biopharma company Neurosearch said on Thursday it had signed a 149 million Danish crowns ($25.7 million) deal with Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries for the sale of its Huntington's drug Huntexil.

Prudential Financial Inc is close to a deal to acquire the individual life insurance business of Hartford Financial Services Group Inc, and a deal could be struck as soon as Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Danish freight forwarder DSV said on Thursday it had signed a deal to buy the road, air and sea freight activities and contract logistics of Czech firm AWT Cechofracht a.s.

Cemig Chief Executive Djalma Bastos de Morais said on Thursday that Brazil's No. 2 electricity producer is "interested" in some assets of smaller rival Grupo Rede Energia, which was recently seized by regulators after repeated service glitches and its failure to reduce debt.

Bulgaria is considering talks with a U.S.-registered consortium to restart the abandoned Belene nuclear power project as a private endeavour, government officials said on Thursday.

($1 = 3.92 shekels) ($1 = 1121.0500 Korean won) ($1 = 53.5250 Indian rupees) ($1 = 0.9669 Australian dollars) ($1 = 0.6193 British pounds) ($1 = 32.3012 Russian roubles) ($1 = 6.0235 Danish crowns) (Compiled by Neha Dimri and Sandhya Vijayan in Bangalore)