UPDATE 1-Areva could buy renewable, mining assets

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Thu Jul 2, 2009 7:52am BST

* CEO says group should be on lookout for acquisitions

* Mitsubishi, sovereign wealth funds possible investors

* Says solar "is something we're looking at" (Adds details)

PARIS, July 2 (Reuters) - French state-owned nuclear reactor maker Areva CEPFi.PA could look at buying mining or renewable energy assets, its CEO Anne Lauvergeon said on France's Radio Classique on Thursday.

Lauvergeon also said she could envisage existing partner Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T), or financial investors including sovereign wealth funds, for example in the Gulf, participating in the capital raising it announced on June 30. [ID:L1667121]

But electricity providers -- Areva's customers -- or suppliers, would not be among the groups taking a stake, Lauvergeon said.

Lauvergeon said she believed the group should remain open to acquisition opportunities that exist in the mining sector, as the group needs more uranium.

"We are going to remain very attentive in the renewables sector," she added. The group already has offshore wind energy activities but is not yet present in the solar energy sector, "but this is something we're looking at," Lauvergeon said. (Reporting by Helen Massy-Beresford)

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