The FSI said earlier this month it wanted to close the deal to buy the stake as quickly as possible after the French press reported that a New Caledonian mining group had made Areva an offer. The FSI told Reuters it had looked at buying Areva's stake in Eramet two years ago, at a time when Eramet's shares were worth as much as three times their 94.95 euro closing price on Tuesday. Areva gave no detail on Tuesday on the timing of a deal or the price at which it could sell its stake. Nickel and manganese miner Eramet currently has a market capitalisation of 2.5 billion euros ($3.27 billion), which would value Areva's stake at about 650 million euros. Areva, Eramet's second-largest shareholder after the Duval family, has sought to sell non-core assets as part of a new strategic plan aimed at helping the nuclear reactor maker cope with lower demand after the Fukushima catastrophe in Japan.