Europeans may bid for Brit Energy
NUCLEAR power generator British Energy could fall under foreign ownership after yesterday announcing it was in talks about a possible takeover.
The FTSE 100 company — in which the Government holds a 35 per cent stake — has been in discussions for nearly a year with a string of potential partners about building new UK reactors.
But it said it was now in negotiations that could lead to a business combination or an offer for the company. The shares jumped 64p to 635dp, the biggest riser in the blue-chip index, valuing British Energy at £6.5billion.
Likely foreign bidders include Germany’s E.ON and RWE, which owns npower, France’s EDF, and Spain’s Iberdrola, which owns Scottish Power.
Home-grown contenders are British Gas-owner Centrica and Scottish & Southern Energy.
Sources said British Energy chief executive Bill Coley had been talking to “serious, credible, major Western European companies”.
Nuclear power fell out of favour after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster but is once again seen as crucial to meeting future
energy needs as oil and gas supplies dwindle and pressure to cut carbon emissions increases.
The Government gave the green light earlier this year for a new generation of nuclear reactors. But any approach from Russia is expected to face fierce opposition because of the political sensitivity of atomic power.
A source said: “The talks were originally about technology and co-investing but the scale of opportunities has changed and become much bigger.”
The company generates one-sixth of the UK’s electricity and runs eight of Britain’s 10 reactors, including Sizewell B in Suffolk and Torness in East Lothian.
The privatised group was bailed out by the Government after nearly collapsing six years ago.