FRANKFURT (Bloomberg) -- E.ON AG, Germany’s largest utility, is in talks to swap power generating capacity with Electricite de France SA as part of a deal in which it would gain full control of its French unit, three people familiar with the matter said.

E.ON, based in Dusseldorf, would acquire the 35 percent it doesn’t own in E.ON France from EDF, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are private. Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG, a German utility 45 percent owned by EDF, would get power capacity from E.ON, the people said.
E.ON is looking to scale back in Germany to cut debt and resolve an antitrust probe by the European Union. As part of the transaction, it would also get nuclear power capacity in France from EDF, one of the people said. Due diligence on the transaction has already begun, two of the people said.
Jens Schreiber, a spokesman for E.ON, declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News on Tuesday. EnBW spokesman Dirk Ommeln and EDF spokesman Francois Molho also declined to comment.
E.ON retreated from an unsuccessful attempt to acquire Spanish energy company Endesa SA last year, settling for the purchase of assets in France, Italy, Poland and Spain in June.
That included the stake in Endesa France/SNET, which runs about 2.5 gigawatts of mostly coal-fired power stations. EDF holds 18.75 percent of the unit, which is now known as E.ON France, while the French state holds a further 16.25 percent.
E.ON swapped about 4.5 billion euros ($6 billion) of assets with Statkraft AS and said in December that it will sell and trade more than 2.2 gigawatts of capacity with EnBW and the Belgian unit of GDF Suez SA. That leaves about another 2.2 gigawatts of capacity to be sold or swapped.