"We are on the lookout for attractive power plants that are up for sale. We look at everything," the paper quoted Hartung as saying in an interview in Monday's edition.

He declined to say whether RWE was in talks to buy assets from smaller German rival EnBW but said that power plants were especially interesting in southern Germany because the phase-out of nuclear power would be most felt there.

The group said earlier this year it aimed to play an active role in the generating industry's consolidation but would favour cost discipline over large-scale M&A as it goes on the offensive after years of crisis.

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

Stocks treated in this article : Enbw Energie Baden Wuerttemberg AG, RWE