EDF says it's under no pressure to sell assets

By Benjamin Mallet

PARIS, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Electricite de France (Other OTC: ECIFF - news) (EDF (Paris: FR0010242511 - news) ) is under no pressure to sell assets and supports the development plan of its electricity transport unit RTE, its chief financial officer said on Friday.

Thomas Piquemal also said that state-owned EDF was making progress in its search for new partners for its nuclear projects in Britain.

Piquemal made the comments after banking sources told Reuters on Thursday that EDF was sounding out bankers about a partial sale of RTE, even though the government said it was not planning a sale at the moment.

"We support RTE's development plan and we are under no pressure to sell assets," Piquemal told Reuters over the phone.

"We are not in the habit of commenting rumours, even less sales pitches and bankers' ideas," he added.

Sources have said EDF was already quietly talking to advisors with a view to starting work on a deal for RTE, which has an enterprise value of about 12 billion euros (16 billion) including 7 billion of debt.

($1 = 0.7514 euros) (Reporting by Benjamin Mallet, writing by Dominique Vidalon, Editing by Natalie Huet)