Areva Selling Unit

Areva SA, the largest builder of nuclear reactors in the world, is selling one of their units so as to raise money to develop uranium mines and buy Siemen AG's share of a nuclear-reactor joint venture. The company has already begun to accept bids and of the three they have received, all have been under $4 billion which is less than the $4.25 billion the unit is estimated to be worth. As of right now the bidders include General Electric Co which has teamed up with CVC Capital Partners on the deal, Toshiba Corp. and Alstom SA in partnership with Schneider Electric. Since one of the major shareholders is the French state it is likely that the winning bidder will be from France.