PRESS DIGEST-Financial Times - February 26

Feb 26 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Headlines

- CME halts trading on flagship metals market for more than an hour

- Engie to buy UK's biggest electricity distribution company in £10.5bn deal

- EG Group to sell French forecourts to billionaire co-founder Zuber Issa

- Elliott assures UK over future of LSE

Overview

- CME Group CME.O halted trading on its flagship metals market for an hour and a half on Wednesday in the latest outage for the world's biggest derivatives exchange.

- Engie ENGIE.PA has agreed to buy UK Power Networks, Britain's biggest electricity distribution company, for 10.5 billion pounds, as the French utility expands its role in supplying power to households and businesses

- EG Group has agreed a deal to sell its French operations to co-founder and shareholder Zuber Issa, as the petrol forecourt operator slims down in preparation for its roughly $9bn initial public offering in New York.

- U.S. activist hedge fund Elliott Management has privately assured the UK government that it is not pushing for a spin-off of London Stock Exchange after building a significant stake in its parent group.