French nuclear group Areva SA (CEI.FR) plans next week to start a new round of dialogue with the three bidders for the transmission and distribution unit it plans to sell, a person with knowledge of the matter told Dow Jones Newswires Friday.

Areva has said it has selected three potential buyers of its T&D unit and U.S.-based General Electric Co. (GE) has confirmed it is one of them, along with its partner CVC Capital Partners.

An all-French consortium of Schneider Electric SA (SU.FR) and Alstom SA (ALO.FR) also has confirmed it is in the race. People familiar with the situation say Japan's Toshiba Corp. (6502.TO) is the other company in the trio of potential buyers in the second phase of the bidding process.

An offer by GE is the only one currently detailed enough to form an opinion on, the person with knowledge of the matter said.

"When you look at the offers, the only offer you can have an opinion on" is that of General Electric, the person said, adding: "They wrote down everything they want to do."

-By Adam Mitchell, Dow Jones Newswires, +33 1 40171756; adam.mitchell@dowjones.com

(Nathalie Boschat in Paris contributed to this article.)