Britain still backs British Energy-EDF tie-up: minister

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — Britain continues to favour a tie-up between British Energy and French energy group EDF, Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said in an interview published Monday.

Speaking to the Financial Times last week while on a visit to Lagos, Wicks said a deal with EDF was "the most sensible option" and added that the government thought "that's the natural link".

He added, however, that while the government was "very intimately involved" in the negotiations, British Energy's future was "very much in its own hands".

Electricite de France, Europe's number one electricity producer, had been widely expected to confirm earlier this month that a deal had been struck to buy British Energy, which operates Britain's power stations, but the deal fell through.

...