Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Areva SA, the world’s biggest builder of nuclear reactors, said it received three bids for its transmission and distribution unit.

General Electric Co. made an offer for the unit without partners, the company said today in a statement. Toshiba Corp. submitted a bid with Innovation Network Corp. of Japan, while the unit’s former owner, Alstom SA, submitted a joint bid with Schneider Electric SA, Areva said. The Paris-based company, which is 91 percent owned by the French government, received the bids today, before the 5 p.m. deadline.

Areva became the world’s third-largest provider of power transmission and distribution equipment behind ABB Ltd. and Siemens AG after buying the unit in 2004 for 920 million euros from Alstom. French President Nicolas Sarkozy orchestrated the sale as finance minister to avert Alstom’s bankruptcy, and Areva is now selling the unit again to fund expansion in the growing global nuclear power market.

“Areva is now assessing these offers,” the company said in its statement.

GE said in a statement it made its offer for the unit without financial partners to “reinforce the strategic and industrial” nature of its offer. While no additional equity is needed for its bid, GE would aim to incorporate French investors and sovereign funds in strategic areas such as the Middle East.

Officials at Toshiba and Alstom declined to comment on the process today.

Estimated Offer Prices

People familiar with the bidding said in September that the unit had attracted three offers -- from Alstom and Schneider, from Toshiba bidding alone and from GE together with CVC Capital Partners Ltd. -- and that all the offers were less than 4 billion euros ($6 billion), short of the estimated 4.25 billion euros at which analysts had valued the business. The statements today from Areva and GE didn’t include their offer prices.

Buyers are interested in the Areva division because of the growing business of making electrical grids more efficient. GE said in May it expected the market for so-called smart meters to grow to $12 billion in five years.

GE, the world’s largest provider of power-plant equipment and services, said today that if successful, it would base the combined unit in France, where it’s the only heavy-duty gas- turbine maker. GE is based in Fairfield, Connecticut and its GE Energy Infrastructure division is based in Atlanta.

Axa Private Equity

Axa Private Equity, the private equity unit of French insurer Axa SA, said it won’t make an offer, or participate in any bid, for Areva’s power transmission and distribution unit.

Qatar Holding LLC, an investment unit of the Persian Gulf country’s sovereign wealth fund, may acquire a stake in Areva’s unit should the GE-led bid succeed, the people familiar with the transaction said previously.

Innovation Network Corp. of Japan is a partnership with investment from the Japanese government and private corporations.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gianluca Baratti in Madrid at gbaratti@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 9, 2009 15:10 EST