EDF Energy up for sale
In what could become an embarrassing situation for the UK government, French power giant EDF has announced plans to sell off its EDF Energy subsidiary in the UK. This is an operation which controls 100,000 miles of the electricity network across London, East Anglia and the South East and brings power to 8,000,000 homes in the UK. So why is the operation up for sale?
When you consider that the parent company, EDF, currently has debts approaching £23 billion it is not difficult to understand why the company is looking to reduce debt as soon as possible. What kind of price the UK subsidiary would attract is open to debate but there appear to be a whole host of potential bidders looking at the operation. Names in the hat include the Abu Dhabi investment authority, three Canadian pension funds and a couple of UK energy companies.
The French parent company of EDF Energy is obviously looking to dispose of the business at the highest price in the shortest possible timescale and we can expect a fairly brisk timetable as and when a sale is agreed. The UK government will be hoping that a UK based company is able to afford the business otherwise there will be more questions asked about overseas investment into the UK energy market.
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