[Telegraph, 28 August] The UK's business secretary, John Hutton, has said that he wants a deal between British Energy (BE) and Electricité de France (EdF) to be agreed within the next two weeks. An offer by EdF was rejected by major BE shareholders in July for being too low. He said, "It's for the majority of shareholders to come to a view about how they want the future of that company to be addressed." Hutton added, "I really want to move on. I don't think we can go on very much longer without knowing how things are going to unfold." He said the deal - which he maintains is still "a good one" - remains the key to developing a new generation of nuclear power plants in the UK. However, Hutton said, "We will make sure there is enough sites and land available for other operators other than EdF to come into the UK because we will need that too if we are to really ramp up our investment in nuclear over the shortest time frame."
Hutton wants deal soon between BE and EdF
[Telegraph, 28 August] The UK's business secretary, John Hutton, has said that he wants a deal between British Energy (BE) and Electricité de France (EdF) to be agreed within the next two weeks. An offer by EdF was rejected by major BE shareholders in July for being too low. He said, "It's for the majority of shareholders to come to a view about how they want the future of that company to be addressed." Hutton added, "I really want to move on. I don't think we can go on very much longer without knowing how things are going to unfold." He said the deal - which he maintains is still "a good one" - remains the key to developing a new generation of nuclear power plants in the UK. However, Hutton said, "We will make sure there is enough sites and land available for other operators other than EdF to come into the UK because we will need that too if we are to really ramp up our investment in nuclear over the shortest time frame."
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