Trading giant Glencore is the front-runner to buy a 51 percent stake in Chemoil Energy from the family of the founder Robert Chandran, sources told Reuters. The stake in the marine fuel supplier could be worth about $240 million.

Other deals reported by Reuters and other media on Wednesday include:

CITIC 1616 Holdings is seeking to buy international direct dialing and mobile value-added service assets in the Asia Pacific region by the end of 2009, a senior executive told Reuters.

European Union antitrust regulators approved German utility RWE’s 8.2 billion euro ($11.4 billion) takeover of Dutch peer Essent on the condition that it sell Essent’s controlling stake in a German unit.

Bank of New York Mellon, Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co and insurer T&D Holdings are the remaining three contenders to buy Citigroup’s Japanese asset management unit in a deal expected to top $1 billion, the Nikkei business daily reported.

State Bank of India, the country’s top lender, aims to buy a mid-sized bank abroad for $1.5 billion to $2 billion to expand its global reach, India’s Economic Times said, citing an unnamed official. It is looking at banks in countries with strong trade links with India, the paper said.

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