UPDATE 3-Poweo appoints banks to study strategic options
* Poweo says appointed banks to study strategic options
* Poweo says no decision yet
* Bank appointed to handle Poweo sale, Le Figaro says
* Shares rise 14 pct (Releads with statement from Poweo)
PARIS, Jan 27 (Reuters) - French alternative electricity and gas group Poweo SA (ALPWO.PA) has appointed banks to examine strategic options for the company but has not yet reached a decision, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
Le Figaro newspaper reported earlier on Tuesday that Poweo was seeking a buyer, pushing the shares up 14 percent to 13.50 euros and giving it a market value of some 130 million euros ($171.7 million).
"Poweo has mandated banks to study different strategic options with the aim of accompanying the development of its industrial and commercial plan," Poweo said.
"No decision has been taken at this point," Poweo said, adding that it would communicate any decision as soon as it was reached.
A bank has been appointed to find a buyer and the dossier has been actively circulated to potential purchasers in the last two months, Le Figaro said without identifying its sources.
Le Figaro said the difficult business environment and relations with Austrian shareholder Verbund (VERB.VI), which owns 30 percent of the group, were among the reasons that could prompt Poweo's sale.
Verbund had no further comment.
A source close to Verbund said the Austrian utility had no interest in increasing the stake it has in Poweo SA.
"The speculative aspect of the stock remains in focus in the context of the credit crunch, and after a drop of almost 60 percent in the stock in four months," Oddo Securities analyst Olivier Becker said.
He said German utility E.ON AG (EONGn.DE) "seems the most credible candidate ... given its ambitions in France," adding that buying Poweo would "free up synergies in thermal and renewable energy."
Analysts at French bank Natixis said a sale of Poweo "could make a foreign electricity group consider a foothold in France." They also warned that Verbund could block a deal by using its call option on Poweo's production assets.
Verbund also owns 40 percent of Poweo Production and until September 2011 has a call option on the remaining 60 percent, which can be used in the event of a change of ownership at Poweo.
Poweo's other principal shareholders are investment fund Ecofin, with 30 percent, and the family of Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Beigbeder, with 13 percent. (Reporting by James Regan and Benjamin Mallet in Paris and Alexandra Schwarz in Vienna; Editing by David Holmes and Andrew Macdonald)
