May 29 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers,

acquisitions and disposals were reported by 1000 GMT on

Wednesday:

** Anglo American rejected BHP Group's ( BHP )

last-ditch request for more time to discuss a $49 billion

takeover offer, dismissing it as highly complex and ending a

five-week pursuit by the bigger rival.

** A consortium of U.S. investment firm KKR and

Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) has emerged as

the frontrunner to buy a minority stake worth $1 billion in one

of Asia's biggest data centre providers, two sources said.

** The owner of Britain's Royal Mail has agreed to a 3.57

billion pound ($4.55 billion) takeover by Czech billionaire

Daniel Kretinsky, it said on Wednesday, in a take-private deal

of one of the world's oldest postal firms.

** ConocoPhillips ( COP ) is in advanced talks to buy

Marathon Oil ( MRO ) in an all-stock deal that could value the

Houston-based company at a little over its $15 billion market

value, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday citing people

briefed on the matter.

** India's Paytm is not in talks to sell a stake

in itself, while neither billionaire Gautam Adani nor his

namesake power-to-ports group are looking to buy shares in the

embattled digital payments firm, the companies said on

Wednesday.

** Merck & Co ( MRK ) is nearing a $1.3 billion cash deal to

buy ophthalmology biotechnology company Eyebiotech in an

agreement that could see an additional $1.7 billion in milestone

payments, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

** Cathie Wood's Ark Investment Management had purchased a

stake in xAI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup, with

a post-money valuation of $24 billion, Bloomberg News reported

on Tuesday.

** Private equity firm KKR would acquire Canadian

energy firm Emera's ( EMRAF ) indirect minority stake in the

Labrador Island Link (LIL) clean energy transmission project for

C$1.19 billion ($872.24 million), the companies said on Tuesday.

** T-Mobile will buy almost all of regional carrier

United States Cellular's ( USM ) wireless operations including

customers, stores and 30% of its spectrum assets in a deal

valued at $4.4 billion, the telecom giant said on Tuesday.

** Hess shareholders on Tuesday approved the

proposed $53 billion merger with Chevron ( CVX ) that paves the

way for the No. 2 U.S. oil company to gain a prize asset and a

foothold in rival Exxon Mobil's ( XOM ) massive Guyana

discoveries.

(Compiled by Rajarshi Roy and Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru)