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TOKYO, Apr 26 (Reuters) Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp. said on Wednesday it was considering taking part in Toshiba Corp.'s $5.4 billion acquisition of Westinghouse.

A spokesman at Toshiba, which has said it was in talks with five or six companies about taking minority stakes in the U.S.

power-plant arm of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd., said the firm was still in talks with a number of candidates but declined to comment further.

Marubeni said it would make a decision on any investment after it examines the financial prospects of the project.

Shares in Marubeni were up 1.11 percent at 640 yen as of 0148 GMT, after rising to 648 yen.

Toshiba said in February it had agreed to buy Westinghouse to boost its position in the resurgent nuclear power industry, and its stake is expected to be 51 percent or a few percentage points more.

The merged operation is set to be the world's largest nuclear reactor maker, accounting for 28 percent of the global market in terms of power generating capacity, surpassing Areva of France.

The Nihon Keizai business daily reported earlier on Wednesday that Marubeni, Fluor Corp. and Shaw Group Inc. of the United States, and Japan's Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. , would invest a total of about 300 billion yen ($2.6 billion) in the buyout of Westinghouse.

Toshiba is asking Marubeni and Fluor to take stakes of about 20 percent each, while Shaw and IHI take stakes of about 5 percent each, the paper said, adding that more companies could join.

An IHI spokesman said nothing had been decided and declined to comment if his company was considering joining the buyout.

Officials at both Fluor and Shaw were not immediately available for comments.

IHI shares were flat at 397 yen, while Toshiba stock was up 1.13 percent at 713 yen. The Nikkei average was up 0.13 percent.

($1=114.82 Yen) REUTERS CS KN0929