RAG foundation wants "significant minority stake" in Thyssen's lift unit-report

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's RAG foundation wants to buy a "significant minority stake" in Thyssenkrupp <TKAG.DE> elevator division and could finance it without selling its Evonik <EVKn.DE> shares or stakes in other firms, a newspaper cited head Bernd Toenjes as saying.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted Toenjes as saying he would like Thyssenkrupp to keep a stake in its elevator division. The foundation is the top shareholder of German chemicals group Evonik.

Earlier this month, RAG told Reuters it was part of a bidding consortium which includes private equity firm Advent, Cinven and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

On Thursday Reuters reported that Thyssenkrupp is nearing a full sale of its elevator division, with three people familiar with the matter saying this would secure the highest valuation of about 16 billion euros ($17.38 billion)to help the company pay down debt.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Edward Taylor and David Evans)