European shares rebound on bid activity and strong corporate results

* FTSEurofirst and Euro STOXX 50 up over 1 pct

* FTSEurofirst had fallen for last five sessions

* RSA surges on possible bid from Zurich Insurance (Xetra: ZFI1.DE - news)

* Kering (Milan: KER.MI - news) climbs after sales rise

By Atul Prakash

LONDON, July 28 (Reuters) - European shares bounced back on Tuesday, lifted by strong company results and corporate takeover activity after falling in the previous five sessions due to concerns over China's growth.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 1.2 percent at 1,548.47 points going into the middle of the trading session. The index had tumbled in the last five sessions and touched a two-week low on Monday.

The euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index also recovered to rise 1.5 percent.

The STOXX Europe 600 Insurance Index advanced 1.6 percent, buoyed by Zurich Insurance's possible bid for rival RSA, which caused RSA shares to surge 15 percent.

Kering also climbed 7.4 percent after Gucci, the flagship brand of the French luxury group, posted a 4.6 percent rise in underlying second-quarter sales.

Melrose (Stuttgart: 2NM3.SG - news) jumped 10.7 percent after saying it would sell its Elster business to Honeywell for 3.3 billion pounds ($5 billion). Engineering group GKN (LSE: GKN.L - news) gained 7.1 percent after agreeing to buy Fokker Technologies for 706 million euros.

"The market has been preoccupied with uncertainties related to China in the last couple of days, but those concerns are taking a backseat today and equities are getting some support from company earnings and M&A," Gerhard Schwarz, head of equity strategy at Baader Bank (Xetra: 508810 - news) in Munich, said.

In the past five days, fears for China's economic growth had dominated the market.

Shanghai shares fell again on Tuesday even after Beijing pledged to lend support, while investors were also expecting a two-day U.S. Federal Reserve meeting starting later in the day to show that U.S. interest rates may rise in September.

Higher rates can often hit stock markets, as they boost returns on bonds and cash, and can result in higher interest costs for companies.

Nevertheless, some traders said the outlook for European shares looked resilient, given record low interest rates in Europe and measures by the European Central Bank (ECB) to boost liquidity and stimulate economic growth in the region.

"In Asia, it's a whole different story, but in Europe I'm not too concerned," said Andreas Clenow, hedge fund manager and principal at ACIES Asset Management.

Europe bourses in 2015: http://link.reuters.com/pap87v

Asset performance in 2015: http://link.reuters.com/gap87v

Today's European research round-up (Additional reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Mark Heinrich)