FACTBOX-Key facts on bids for Areva T&D unit

PARIS, Nov 9 (Reuters) - State-owned nuclear group Areva (CEPFi.PA) is reviewing bids this week for its electricity transmission and distribution business, which analysts have valued at 3 to 5 billion euros.

Binding offers are due Nov. 9, and Areva could announce the winner as early as Nov. 16. [ID:nL9177274]

Following is a list of bidders and facts surrounding the business.

ALSTOM-SCHNEIDER

* French partners Alstom (ALSO.PA) and Schneider Electric (SCHN.PA) plan to split the T&D unit, with Alstom running the transmission and Schneider the distribution. French unions have objected to this strategy, citing possible job cuts.

* Alstom owned the T&D unit, which now belongs to Areva, until 2003 when it was forced to sell it to alleviate debt problems. At the time, current French President Nicolas Sarkozy was finance minister and orchestrated the operation. Alstom sold the unit to Areva in 2003 for 920 million euros.

* The French government has often favored the creation of so-called national champions in industry, so could be attracted by the all-French bid of Alstom and Schneider.

* Alstom has a market capitalisation of roughly 14 billion euros. Schneider has a market capitalisation of 19.2 billion euros.

GENERAL ELECTRIC

* General Electric (GE.N) is preparing a bid with a consortium that could include private equity players and sovereign wealth funds. GE's talks with one potential partner CVC Capital have supposedly broken off, according to press reports this week.

* General Electric could publicly list the T&D unit on Euronext in the next five years.

* General Electric is the world's largest maker of jet engines and electricity turbines, with a market capitalisation of roughly $163 billion. GE is also a player in the nuclear business, so some have questioned whether it makes sense for Areva to sell its T&D division to a competitor in its core nuclear activity.

For more on GE's bid, click on [ID:nL6384118] [ID:nN08197319]

TOSHIBA

* Japan's Toshiba (6502.T) is best known as an electronics conglomerate but is seeking to expand into the power generation sector as a way to offset volatility in its recession-hit computer chip business.

* Toshiba bought nuclear power company BFNL USA Group and Westinghouse Electric UK for $5.4 billion in Feb. 2006.

* Toshiba already has an electricity transmission and distribution as part of its social infrastructure segment, which employs 74,000 people and had 2.419 billion yen in sales in 2008, 29 percent of the group's total.

* Toshiba has a market cap of 2.14 billion yen, or $23.6 billion.

For more on Toshiba's bid, please click on [ID:nL4597201] [ID:nT167634]

FACTS ON THE SELLER, AREVA

* Areva, which is 91 percent owned by the French state, is selling the T&D unit as part of an 11 billion euro plan to fund its overseas expansion. It is also planning a capital increase.

* Areva's T&D unit posted revenue of 5.06 billion euros and operating profit of 560 million euros in the fiscal year ending March 2009.

* Areva reported sales of 13.2 billion euros in 2008

* Areva T&D employs 31,000 workers in Europe, 5,500 in France.

For more information on the sale of Areva T&D, click on [ID:nL6652688] [ID:nLS644036] [ID:nLT602582]

(Reporting by Nina Sovich; editing by Leila Abboud and Jon Loades-Carter)