Shares in French investment bank Natixis rise on Wednesday after its parent BPCE guarantees billions of euros of toxic assets. Keeping with the topic of rescuing banks: U.S. regulators might have opened the way for private equity bidders to enter auctions of troubled banks. Meanwhile, wrangling about Opel — the European unit of General Motors — continues. For top Reuters stories on deals, click here.

And here are stories that we found of interest in the newspapers. Some of the links may require a subscription.

* Lloyds Banking Group may have to write off as much as 500 million pounds on loans it made to pubs group Admiral Taverns, the Financial Times reports.

* Eyeing a controlling stake in EverPower Wind Holdings Inc, Terra Firma Chairman Guy Hands is in advanced stages of talks to invest up to $350 million in the wind-farm developer, the Wall Street Journal says.

* Dutch banking and insurance company ING Groep NV has picked at least six financial institutions to enter the second round of bidding for its Swiss and Asian private banking assets, according to the Wall Street Journal.

* China Sinopec Group’s $7.24 billion acquisition of Swiss oil firm Addax Petroleum Corp was approved by the Iraqi government, a local paper quotes a senior Sinopec official as saying.

*  The London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange/Euronext may pick up a 5 percent stake each in MCX Stock Exchange, India’s newest bourse, the Mint newspaper says, citing two people close to the development.

From DealZone. Please read the complete article and let us know what you think below.