St Gobain is continuing to consider it options as it seeks to divest its non-core packaging activities, worth around 4 billion euros, Les Echos reported.

A sale to an investment fund and a market listing are both unlikely given the current market environment, the paper said.

A more likely solution would involve both a financial and an industrial partner, Les Echos said. Several industrial partners are interested, but market leader Owens Illinois (nyse: OI - news - people ) could not be considered for competition reasons, Les Echos said. St Gobain is the second-leargest sector participant after Owens Illinois.

Ireland's Ardagh Glass and Mexico's Vitro have been named as possible industrial partners.

One scenarios being studied would be for St Gobain to cede control of its packaging activities to a fellow industrial while bringing in a financial partner to take a 25 percent stake. St Gobain would keep 25 percent.

Contacted by Les Echos, St Gobain said it had received expressions of interest and confirmed several options are being studied, but emphasised there is no divestment process at present.