Could Scottish and Southern be taken over by Sweden's Vattenfall
It has been revealed this weekend that UK energy company Scottish and Southern energy is in talks with Swedish counterpart Vattenfall. The financial press are suggesting an £11 billion takeover could be in the offing with talks said to be at an advanced stage. The move will see yet another of the U.K.'s leading energy companies taken over by a foreign parent amid concerns that the UK government is losing control of the energy sector.
Despite suggestions that the talks are in advanced stages the Swedish company is also in the process of bidding for Holland's second-biggest energy company with many seeing Scottish and Southern as a "fallback". Vattenfall's move for Scottish and Southern has been one of the longest running takeover saga is in the UK stock market with regular speculation appearing over the last decade. However, it would appear there is more significance to the rumours this time and potential for a merger of the two operations.
This comes at a very sensitive time for the UK energy sector where prices are starting to fall back but there is serious debate as to whether the falls are large enough to reflect current prices in the wholesale market.
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