Market Chatter -- Corporate finance press digest

(Adds Goldman Sachs, Lebedev items at the top)

LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related stories involving U.S. and European companies were reported by media on Sunday and Monday:

* Goldman Sachs has launched a new proprietary fund to invest in assets in the Middle East. The fund is understood to have been started with an initial balance of up to $300 million but is likely to grow as more investment opportunities are identified, the Daily Telegraph reported.

* Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev wants to buy a small German bank to help support German exports into Russia, he was quoted as saying in Austrian newspaper Die Presse.

* International infrastructure groups have approached BAA with offers to buy London's Gatwick airport for up to 3 billion pounds ($5.62 billion), the Sunday Times reported without citing sources.

* The German state of North Rhein-Westphalia (NRW) wants to sell its 38 percent stake in troubled regional state lender WestLB [WDLG.UL] as quickly as possible, Germany's Focus magazine reported.

* Germany's GfK Holdings plans to take its time in deciding whether to bid for British market research group Taylor Nelson Sofres and does not rule out other acquisitions, Chief Executive Klaus Wuebbenhorst told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

* Gas exporters Qatar and Indonesia have set up a $1 billion fund to invest in energy and infrastructure, Indonesia's ambassador to Qatar said in remarks published in the Gulf Times.

* Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are responding to the credit crisis with new systems that use the market's view of their own creditworthiness as a basis for lending decisions, the Financial Times said, citing people familiar with the matter. [ID:nLI698873] (Compiled by Olesya Dmitracova; Editing by Louise Ireland)