French nuclear group Areva SA (ARVCY, CEI.FR) plans next week to start a new round of dialogue with the three bidders for the transmission and distribution, or T&D, 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 (CVC.YY).

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. (TOSYY, 6502.TO) is the other company in the trio of potential buyers in the second phase of the bidding process.

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

Areva's management plans to meet the three potential buyers one by one, starting around the middle of next week, the person said.

Toshiba and GE/CVC are up next week and a date isn't yet scheduled for Alstom and Schneider, said the person.

Areva will make a detailed presentation of the T&D business, followed by a question-and-answer session in which both bidder and company will be able to ask questions, the person said.

The companies then have until Nov. 9 to file binding offers, added the person.

Areva foresees then making an announcement a week later, with Nov. 16 currently penciled in, according to the person.

Meanwhile, two of the three potential buyers of Areva T&D are looking to expand their bids to include private equity partners, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

GE is talking to Axa Private Equity, a unit of French insurer Axa SA (AXA), about possibly joining the consortium, people said. Meanwhile, Toshiba is in talks with Eurazeo (EUZOF, RF.FR) with a view to the French investment house joining the Japanese company in its bid for T&D, people said.

One person said Toshiba is also likely to be talking to other private equity firms such as the Carlyle Group.

Toshiba has consistently declined to comment and hasn't confirmed that it's participating in the sale process. The Japanese company couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

Eurazeo declined to comment, as did Carlyle.

"It's all very fluid at the moment. Everything's at an early stage," one of the people with knowledge of the matter said, referring to potential private equity involvement. State-controlled Areva announced in June plans to raise funds for investment in nuclear and renewable power by selling its transmission and distribution unit and by opening up its capital to strategic and industrial partners in a capital increase.

An Areva spokeswoman declined to comment Friday.

Spokesmen representing GE and Axa also declined to comment.

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

(Nathalie Boschat and Marietta Cauchi contributed to this article.)