PARIS , Nov 8 (Reuters) - Private equity fund CVC has pulled out of talks with General Electric about a possible joint bid for the power and transmission unit of France's Areva, a French financial news service reported on Sunday.
Spokesmen for the firms involved could not immediately be reached for comment.
State-owned nuclear reactor group Areva is selling its T&D unit and has selected Japan's Toshiba, a consortium led by U.S.-based GE, and French partners Alstom and Schneider Electric as possible buyers.
Binding offers are expected for Nov. 9 ahead of an Areva decision set for Nov. 16.
Citing banking sources, news service Wansquare, a joint venture between the Journal des Finances and Le Figaro newspapers, said that CVC had withdrawn from the GE-led consortium because of disagreements with the U.S. power giant.
The disagreements were over the voting rights CVC would have in the consortium, should it win the bid for Areva T&D and not over financial or industrial concerns, Wansquare wrote.
'To replace CVC, Clara Gaymard (head of GE's French division) is seeking a last-minute alliance with Axa Private Equity,' Wansquare wrote.
According to a report in the French business daily Les Echos on Friday, GE was talking to sovereign funds in Singapore, Korea and Qatar about its possible bid for Areva T&D.
An alliance with one of them could reduce CVC's interest and increase that of GE, the paper said.
Economy Minister Christine Lagarde has said the offers for T&D would be assessed on the basis of price, industrial strategy and employment issues.
Areva, in which the French state holds a 91 percent stake, is selling the T&D unit, which analysts valued at between 3 billion and 5 billion euros, as part of an 11-billion-euro plan to fund expansion that includes a capital increase.
Several analysts have told Reuters that initial offers for T&D would not exceed 4 billion euros.
(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon in Paris; Additional reporting by Megan Davies in New York; Editing by Jan Paschal) Keywords: AREVA GE/ (estelle.shirbon@reuters.com, +33 1 4949 5342; Reuters Messaging: estelle.shirbon.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Spokesmen for the firms involved could not immediately be reached for comment.
State-owned nuclear reactor group Areva is selling its T&D unit and has selected Japan's Toshiba, a consortium led by U.S.-based GE, and French partners Alstom and Schneider Electric as possible buyers.
Binding offers are expected for Nov. 9 ahead of an Areva decision set for Nov. 16.
Citing banking sources, news service Wansquare, a joint venture between the Journal des Finances and Le Figaro newspapers, said that CVC had withdrawn from the GE-led consortium because of disagreements with the U.S. power giant.
The disagreements were over the voting rights CVC would have in the consortium, should it win the bid for Areva T&D and not over financial or industrial concerns, Wansquare wrote.
'To replace CVC, Clara Gaymard (head of GE's French division) is seeking a last-minute alliance with Axa Private Equity,' Wansquare wrote.
According to a report in the French business daily Les Echos on Friday, GE was talking to sovereign funds in Singapore, Korea and Qatar about its possible bid for Areva T&D.
An alliance with one of them could reduce CVC's interest and increase that of GE, the paper said.
Economy Minister Christine Lagarde has said the offers for T&D would be assessed on the basis of price, industrial strategy and employment issues.
Areva, in which the French state holds a 91 percent stake, is selling the T&D unit, which analysts valued at between 3 billion and 5 billion euros, as part of an 11-billion-euro plan to fund expansion that includes a capital increase.
Several analysts have told Reuters that initial offers for T&D would not exceed 4 billion euros.
(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon in Paris; Additional reporting by Megan Davies in New York; Editing by Jan Paschal) Keywords: AREVA GE/ (estelle.shirbon@reuters.com, +33 1 4949 5342; Reuters Messaging: estelle.shirbon.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.