Deals of the day-Mergers and acquisitions

(Adds Sirius XM, LUKOIL, Intercept, Sterling Bank, Argo)

Feb 12 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2100 GMT on Friday:

** Chinese Internet search company Baidu Inc said it had received an offer for its 80.5 percent stake in online video company Qiyi.com Inc from the chief executives of the two firms.

** Britain's Johnston Press Plc said it had agreed to buy "i" newspaper, the cut-price sister paper of The Independent, for 24 million pounds ($35 million).

** Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's LetterOne investment vehicle said it had made a $200 million investment in U.S. ride-hailing service provider Uber Technologies Inc .

** Argo Infrastructure Partners, an investment manager that has attracted investment from California pension fund CalSTRS, is buying a 49.9 percent equity interest in a company owning a natural gas-fired power plant in Pueblo, Colorado, it said on Friday.

** Satellite radio provider Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc , whose biggest shareholder is U.S.-based Sirius XM Holdings Inc, said it had been approached for a potential deal and was in early-stage talks.

** Oil major LUKOIL has told the Russian government it wants to buy smaller rival Bashneft as the state prepares to sell either a controlling or minority stake in the firm to plug a budget deficit, sources told Reuters.

** Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc, a U.S. biotechnology company focused on advanced treatments for liver disease, is exploring a potential sale after receiving interest from other companies, according to sources familiar with the matter.

** Nigeria's Sterling Bank is aiming to buy one or two mid-sized commercial lenders as sharp falls in the value of the naira and increased regulatory pressure are forcing banks to recapitalise, its chief financial officer said on Friday.

** Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing arm of Amazon.com Inc, said it had acquired NICE, a software developer for technical computing.

** Singapore's DBS Group Holdings and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp as well as Swiss bank Julius Baer have submitted non-binding bids for Barclays' Asian private wealth business, people familiar with the matter said.

** Malaysian state-owned conglomerate Felda will use an unlisted unit to buy into Indonesian tycoon Peter Sondakh's debt-burdened Rajawali Group, sources familiar with the matter said, seeking to avoid heavy investor criticism that scuttled an attempted deal last year.

** Lenders in Britain's M6toll motorway are seeking an exit and are working with UBS on a potential deal they hope will recoup them some 1.9 billion pounds ($2.75 billion) of debt, people familiar with the matter said.

** The commitment deadline on $10 billion of pro-rata loans in a $45 billion financing package backing computer giant Dell's purchase of data storage products maker EMC Corp has been extended due to a slow order book, a source close to the transaction said.

** Oil major LUKOIL has told the Russian government it wants to buy mid-sized rival Bashneft, with the state still studying whether to sell a controlling or minority stake in the firm to plug a budget deficit, sources told Reuters.

** San Miguel Corp has decided to keep its $500 million controlling stake in an unlisted bank, opting to pursue growth in the sector instead of exiting due to lack of presence, the president of the Philippine conglomerate said on Friday.

** Commerzbank still does not see Postbank as an attractive takeover target, outgoing Chief Executive Martin Blessing said on Friday.

** Thailand's Berli Jucker PCL (BJC) said it would seek a short-term loan and might consider an equity issue to fund a planned $6.2 billion acquisition of hypermarket operator Big C Supercenter PCL. ($1 = 35.53 baht) ($1 = 47.50 Philippine pesos) (Compiled by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru)