British Energy accepted a takeover offer of 15.6 billion euros (US$23 billion) by French electricity firm EDF that will build new nuclear reactors in Britain, EDF and officials said yesterday.
“For EDF, this is an historic milestone in our strategic development plans in Europe and enables the EDF Group to develop significantly in the UK, one of its key markets,” EDF chairman Pierre Gadonneix said in a statement announcing the offer.
The offer is priced at £7.74 a share. An earlier offer, unveiled in late July for £7.65 per share or 15.45 billion euros, was rejected by two of British Energy’s shareholders, the investment funds Invesco and M&G.
EDF said yesterday that Invesco had accepted the higher offer.
The British energy sector has long been privatized, and the British treasury now holds only about 35 percent of British Energy.
The French state by contrast owns about 85 percent of EDF.
The British government welcomed the announcement and said that EDF proposed to build four nuclear reactors in Britain as part of the deal.
“This deal is good value for the taxpayer and a significant step towards the construction of a new generation of nuclear stations to power the country,” British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a statement.
“The four new reactors that EDF is proposing to build would generate clean electricity to meet more than 13 percent of forecast UK electricity demand by the early 2020s,” the text of the government statement said.
This would yield “a saving of more than 14 million tonnes of CO2 emissions a year, helping tackle climate change,” it said.
EDF has been established in Britain for 10 years and employs 13,000 people in its British subsidiary EDF Energy, the statement said. It also said that EDF’s offer promised to create new jobs.
The Labour government wanted to sell its stake in British Energy to help fund a renewal of nuclear-power generating capacity in Britain.
British Energy provides almost one-fifth of Britain’s electricity and owns and operates eight nuclear power stations.
“Nuclear is clean, secure and affordable; its expansion is crucial for Britain’s long term energy security, as we reduce our oil dependence and move towards a low carbon future,” Brown said.
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