Fresh call for BE deal
Invesco, the largest single shareholder in British Energy, is meeting today with government representatives to push for a merger between the UK’s nuclear group and gas supplier Centrica.
Invesco’s head of investment Neil Woodford will lay out his plans to the Shareholder Executive, the body that manages government financial interest in public companies.
Last week Woodford said that a deal with Centrica was the “obvious solution” in the long-term future for both companies.
M&G, British Energy’s second biggest institutional shareholder with seven per cent, is said to agree with Invesco’s plans.
But the government’s favourite solution remains EDF, the French company which was in talks with British Energy for a £12bn takeover, before negotiations collapsed last month, after major investors, including Invesco, asked for a higher price.
Earlier this month, a Department for Business spokesman said that in the government’s view a deal with EDF still represented “the best option”, adding that there was “opposition” to plans with Centrica.
In particular, the government values the French company’s nuclear expertise, and an official was reported as saying that the owner of British Gas was not a good option as it did not have the needed “experience and knowledge technologies” to deal with nuclear energy.
Invesco, which has a 15 per cent stake in British Energy as well as five per cent of Centrica, has said that a tie-up between the two companies would still involve EDF.