Dec 5 (Reuters) - France's Suez Group would help manage

struggling British utilities firm Thames Water's operations as

part of a 5 billion pound ($6.37 billion) bid tendered by

Covalis Capital for full ownership, the Financial Times reported

on Thursday.

Covalis plans to sell off billions of pounds of assets of

the utility and publicly list the remains, with the UK

government holding a "golden share" in the utility, FT added,

citing people familiar with the bid, .

($1 = 0.7851 pounds)