Stockholm - The Swedish government that controls energy group Vattenfall has halted the group from making a possible bid for a stake in British Energy, local media reports said Wednesday.

Vattenfall also has activities in Germany and other Nordic neighbours, and earlier April was according to financial daily Dagens Industri mulling a bid for the British group along with another energy group like Germany's E. On or a financial partner.

Dagens Industri on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources, reported that the government has stopped the process.

However, a spokeswoman for Energy and Enterprise Minister Maud Olofsson told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that there were "many rumours" and had no comment to the report.

Vattenfall Chief Executive Lars G Josefsson on Tuesday made similar remarks when asked about a possible bid in connection with the group's annual general meeting.

Josefsson reiterated that Vattenfall is interested in expanding its activities in northern Europe.

Britain was one of several priority growth markets listed in Vattenfall's recent full-year 2007 report.

Other groups that have shown interest in the British state's 35- per-cent stake in British Energy include RWE of Germany and EDF of France. (dpa)