RPT-Market Chatter-Corporate finance press digest

Jan 25 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related stories were reported by media on Friday:

* Top executives at Barclays were aware the bank was manipulating its submissions to Libor rate-setting panel in November 2011, almost a year earlier than previously disclosed, the Financial Times reported. ()

* Alibaba Group, which runs China's largest e-commerce platforms, and its partners will spend 100 billion yuan ($16 billion)in the first phase of investment to build a logistics network, a local newspaper reported.

* Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer James Gorman received lower compensation for 2012 after a difficult year for the bank in which profits declined, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

* Barclays Plc is firing at least 70 people from its Asian investment banking division, sources familiar with the matter said.

* Citigroup Inc's private bank is withdrawing its $187 million investment from SAC Capital Advisors LP, the latest of several client redemptions at the hedge fund firm, the Wall Street Journal reported.

* Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is close to selling his 38 percent stake in Polyus Gold with a potential deal being reviewed by Britain's Takeover Panel, two sources familiar with the matter said.

* A senior Lenovo executive said on Thursday that the Chinese computer maker may consider Research in Motion as a takeover target, sending the Blackberry maker's shares up 2 percent just a week before it launches a make-or-break line of redesigned smartphones.