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25 March 2008 - UK electricity and gas utility Centrica has been reported to be examining a £10bn ($20bn) bid for British Energy.
British Gas-owner Centrica hopes it can provide a "British solution" for the nuclear-power energy provider, which last week confirmed it was in talks with potential suitors. Among the possible bidders for BE – whose eight nuclear sites produce about a sixth of the UK's electricity – are French nuclear giant EDF, Germany's RWE and Spanish industrial group Iberdrola.
The company is Britain's main nuclear power provider and will play a major role in any development of the nuclear power supply. Its market capitalisation is £6.4bn. Last week, London announced it was considering selling its 36 per cent stake in BE, with Centrica understood to have been one of several companies contacted on behalf of ministers.
A spokesman for Centrica yesterday declined to comment about any proposed bid.
BE's nuclear power stations are: Torness in East Lothian; Hunterston B in Ayrshire; Dungeness B in Kent, Hartlepool; Heysham 1 and 2 in Lancashire; Hinkley Point B in Somerset and Sizewell B in Suffolk. Decommissioning dates for nuclear sites range between 2014 and 2035. BE also owns a coal-fired power station at Eggborough, east Yorkshire.
Last year, the government sold a 25 per cent stake in the company, raising £2.08bn. Chancellor Alistair Darling has said the money would go towards the Nuclear Liabilities Fund, to help meet the cost of decommissioning nuclear power stations.
The government acquired its BE holding after rescuing the nuclear power firm from collapse in 2004.
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