UK considering British Energy stake sale - FT

LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - The UK government has approached energy suppliers to see if they are interested in its 35.2 percent stake in nuclear power company British Energy Group Plc (BGY.L: Quote, Profile, Research), the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

The newspaper quoted people close to the situation as saying Germany's E.ON AG EONG.DE and RWE (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), France's EDF (EDF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), Iberdrola (IBE.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) of Spain and Britain's Centrica (CNA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) were approached to see if they were interested in acquiring part of the stake, worth at least 2 billion pounds ($4.06 billion).

The newspaper said UBS had been mandated by the government to help with a potential sale while British Energy had appointed NM Rothschild as its advisor.

The FT said the government had declined to comment but it quoted an insider as saying: "Of course, we would look at any offer carefully".

Sue Fletcher, a spokeswoman for British Energy, said the company could not comment on speculation. (Reporting by Mike Elliott)