FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Gas importer Sefe has secured 3.5 billion cubic metres of regasification capacity in Dunkirk and is closing in on new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import deals, its boss said, mapping out the former Gazprom division's future strategy.

The company is also assessing whether to take legal steps against its Russian ex-owner, which first stopped and then suspended supplies, Sefe managing director Egbert Laege told Reuters during the annual Handelsblatt Energy Summit.

"We have the ambition to become a profitable company in 2023," Laege said, adding the group had also secured long-term regasification capacity at the planned Hanseatic Energy Hub terminal in Stade, Germany. (Reporting by Vera Eckert, Christoph Steitz, Tom Kaeckenhoff, editing by Kirsti Knolle)