Japanese firms buy stake in Areva enrichment plant

PARIS, March 30 (Reuters) - Areva CEPFi.PA on Monday said that two Japanese companies agreed to acquire a joint 2.5 percent stake in the French state-owned company's Georges Besse II enrichment plant for an undisclosed amount.

Areva named the companies asKansai Urban Banking Corp. (8545.OS) and trading house Sojitz Corp. (2768.T).

The deal follows the acquisition by French utility GDF Suez (GSZ.PA) of a 5 percent stake in Georges Besse II, a project launched in 2006, in which Areva is investing 3 billion euros.

Areva has said it will use industrial partnerships as a way to help it finance multi-billion euro investment needs, while lobbying its main shareholder, the French state, for a larger cash injection in the company through a rights issue.

Areva's activities cover the full nuclear cycle, from uranium mining and enrichment to nuclear reactors and spent nuclear fuel recycling.

(Reporting by Marie Maitre; editing by Simon Jessop)