Blackstone Group is considering a stake in Anhui Jianghuai Automobile (Group) Co Ltd, reported the Shanghai Securities News.

Talks between the parties are in the initial stages, with no final decision as yet, the newspaper quoted sources as saying.

The report said senior officials from the U.S. private equity group, including Antony Leung, Blackstone's Chairman of Greater China, visited Jianghuai Auto on Aug. 21 with Gui Jianping, director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

Jianghuai Auto (Group) recently completed a restructuring, and is ready to attract foreign strategic investors.

Jianghuai Auto (Group) controls two listed companies -- Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co Ltd and Anhui Ankai Automobile Co Ltd. The group was set up in 1997.

Wang Zhiyuan, vice president of Jianghuai Auto (Group), said the sales revenue of the group was 10.1 billion yuan (1.34 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of this year, up more than 20 percent year on year. The group sold 175,000 complete vehicles and passenger car chasses in 2006.

Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co Ltd's main business revenue stood at 6.9 billion yuan in the first six months of this year, up 24.46 percent year on year, said Wang.

Blackstone Group said on September 10 that it would make a strategic investment of 600 million dollars in chemical maker China National BlueStar (Group) Corp for a 20-percent stake. The deal is pending Chinese regulatory approval.