By Nadya Masidlover
PARIS--French power utility Electricité de France SA (EDF.FR) is
set to make an offer for Areva SA's (AREVA.FR) nuclear reactor
business in coming days, EDF's Chief Executive Jean-Bernard Levy
said on French radio.
"We are preparing a proposal which we will address in the coming
days ... for EDF to buy Areva's reactor business," Mr. Levy told
Europe 1.
Nobody at Areva was immediately available to comment.
The comments come after the French state, which controls more
than 85% of Areva, asked Areva and EDF to find a way of helping the
beleaguered nuclear engineering firm, including EDF possibly taking
over some of Areva's assets.
Mr. Levy said the nuclear reactor business would become a
majority-owned subsidiary of EDF employing the 15,000 staff who
currently build and operate nuclear reactors across the globe for
Areva.
Mr. Levy said a purchase would be made at "a fair price, a
market price." In an interview with French daily Le Figaro, Mr.
Levy said the deal must include guarantees that EDF won't be
exposed to risks linked to Areva's past, "in particular in
Finland," he said.
In recent years Areva has suffered huge cost overruns at its two
largest projects in Finland and in France, bad investments in
uranium mines and a general slump in demand for new nuclear
reactors after the Fukushima disaster in Japan four years ago.
After years of losses, Areva is currently in the midst of a
major cost-cutting effort and earlier this month announced plans to
reduce its global payroll by between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs.
Mr. Levy said, in Le Figaro, that EDF will also make "an
alternative offer" which would be limited to the power utility
employing 1,200 of Areva's engineers who currently work with EDF on
a daily basis in "the conception and calculations" of nuclear
safety for French nuclear reactors.
French utility Engie (GSZ.FR), formerly known as GDF Suez, has
also said parts of Areva looked attractive.
EDF will hold its annual shareholders meeting on Tuesday.
-Write to Nadya Masidlover at nadya.masidlover@wsj.com
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