Germany's state of North Rhine Westphalia has commissioned a report from accountancy firm KPMG to allay fears that the planned €5.5bn ($7bn) flotation of RAG, a holding company of state-owned industrial assets, will not raise enough to cover impending costs.

Proceeds from the listing of RAG, which the German government plans to float in the second quarter of next year, have been earmarked to pay for the costs associated with the closure of several coal mines by 2014, German newspaper Handelsblatt reports.