France pushing Areva to sell T&D business-paper

PARIS, May 3 (Reuters) - The French state is pushing Areva to sell its T&D business as part of a solution to a multibillion-euro funding shortfall at the nuclear energy group, Les Echos newspaper reported.

The front page of Monday's newspaper, which is sent to Reuters on Sunday, said the state had given Areva three weeks to consider the possibility at a supervisory board meeting on Thursday.

The newspaper said the T&D business was worth between 3 billion and 5 billion euros. No further details were available.

Chief Executive Anne Lauvergeon had excluded selling a unit she bought from Alstom (ALSO.PA) for 950 million euros as part of the latter's financial rescue plan in 2004.

Alstom has said it was keen to buy the unit back. (Writing by Anna Willard, editing by Maureen Bavdek)