Centrica eyes a slice of the British Energy pie
As the UK government set upon the road to merge EDF and British Energy, Centrica soon realised that no matter how much firepower it could muster it would not be able to takeover British Energy. Now that the EDF deal is all but done it seems as though Centrica will be asked to come on board and take a 25% in the new look British Energy. The small sum of £3.1 billion will seemingly secure a part of the deal for Centrica and while talks are still ongoing they are rumoured to be nearing a successful conclusion.
The move will allow the UK government to sell this as a UK / French deal when in reality it is EDF that has and will always pull the strings. Whether this will be enough to fend of the accusations that the company has been sold out to the French remains to be seen.
The UK government is treading a very thin line with this EDF / British Energy deal as it affectively puts the future of the UK nuclear energy industry in the hands of the French government (who affectively own and control EDF). How will UK voters react when energy prices start to edge higher and higher in the future?
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