BNP Paribas interested in Fortis assets: paper

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - France's BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) is interested in buying what remains of Belgian-based financial services group Fortis (FOR.BR) (FOR.AS), Belgian business daily De Tijd said on Saturday.

De Tijd said, citing political sources, that there were three to four would-be takeover candidates for the Belgian activities of Fortis, one of them BNP.

The Belgian government was also interested in nationalizing the Belgian activities of Fortis, similar to action undertaken by the Dutch state on Friday, the newspaper said.

BNP Paribas, which sources said had been interested in buying Fortis a week ago, was not immediately available for comment.

The Dutch government nationalized the banking and insurance activities of Fortis in the Netherlands in a deal worth 16.8 billion euros ($23.3 billion) on Friday after the troubled financial services company hit an acute cash crunch.

The transaction effectively broke up the cross-border group along national lines and set off speculation about what would happen to the Belgian activities.

The Belgian government, which has a 49 percent stake in Fortis Bank Belgium, said on Friday the Dutch transaction allowed Belgium to concentrate on the evolution of the group in the short and medium term.

Prime Minister Yves Leterme said he did not rule out further developments for Fortis.

Fortis, a Belgian-Luxembourg group, is now made up of Fortis's banking and insurance activities in Belgium, Fortis Banque Luxemourg, international operations, notably banking in Poland and Turkey, and asset management arm Fortis Investments.

($1=.7216 Euro)

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Lincoln Feast)