EDF clears up British Energy acquisition
6 Jan 2009
London - EDF Energy has officially completed a £12.5-billion acquisition of nuclear power operator British Energy. The UK government is to raise around £4.4billion from the deal, which was cleared by the European Commission in December
The payout by the French energy group will be put towards the cost of decommissioning British Energy's existing nuclear power stations. The acquisition, meanwhile, represents a significant advance in EDF’s plans to build four nuclear reactors in the UK.
"In addition to the important investment made by EDF, our ambition is to have more than one firm building and operating nuclear power stations in the UK," Ed Miliband, UK secretary for energy and climate change said in a press statement. "There are strong signals of interest in this from the power industry and we will continue to work with stakeholders to bring about the conditions that can make that possible."
UK business secretary Lord Mandelson said: "Completion of this takeover represents not only a £12.5bn investment in the UK by EDF but, in opening the way for new nuclear build, should provide many billions of pounds more opportunity for the UK supply chain."
