The British energy sector has long been privatised, and the British treasury now holds only 35.2 percent of British Energy

The company is the biggest British power generator, providing nearly 19 percent of electricity used in Britain, and it owns nine of 10 nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom.

The French state owns 84.9 percent of EDF which is the biggest producer of nuclear popwer in the world.

The newspaper, which did not provide sources, said that an EDF board meeting late on Thursday was believed to have approved a bid. British Energy has a stock market capitalisation of 6.7 billion pounds (8.8 billion euros, 13.8 billion dollars.

An EDF spokesman, asked about the report, said the company had contacts with all the British energy players as part of its efforts to play an active role in the UK's nuclear power programme.

In midday London trading, British Energy Group stock was 4.7 percent higher at 694 pence while in Paris, EDF rose 0.63 percent to 60.70 euros.

The report said that 10 other companies were interested in bidding. Among them were EON and RWE of Germany, Iberdrola, Endesa and Union Fenosa of Spain, French-Belgian group Suez, and British groups Centrica and Scottish & Southern Energy.

However, if EDF were successful, it might have to dispose of some of British Energy's assets because the British government would not want most of the British nuclear popwer generation capacity to be in the hands of one company, the newspaper said.

The Sunday Times of London said last month that Centrica was mulling a 10-billion-pound bid for British Energy, a claim Centrica declined to comment on.

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