71.   Earlier, Shi Min, a company spokeswoman, said she is unaware of any merger talks with Yangzi, a key raw material supplier to Yizheng.

72.   Donald Marron, chairman and chief executive of Paine Webber Group Inc., said his securities company is not in merger talks.

73.   Earlier this year, Fleet held unsuccessful merger talks with Bank of New York, investment bankers close to Fleet said.

74.   Earlier this year, KLM abandoned merger talks with Alitalia of Italy.

75.   Earnings for Nordbanken, which abandoned merger talks with S-E-Banken twice this year, are due Thursday.

76.   Earlier Friday, Viacom pulled out of merger talks with Chris-Craft.

77.   Energy Group PLC, a British utility company, said Tuesday that it was in merger talks with Pacificorp, a West Cost power company.

78.   Even before the latest merger talks, Bell Atlantic and Nynex were joining forces.

79.   Equant remains in merger talks with France Telecom.

80.   EDS held merger talks last summer with Sprint Corp., but the negotiations broke down because the companies could not agree on financial terms.