PARIS, April 19, (RTRS): Areva is hoping to finalise its 3 billion euro ($4.19 billion) rights issue by the end of April, with two Middle Eastern funds and a Japanese group set to take a stake in the French nuclear group, media reported.
Qatar and Kuwait’s sovereign funds, as well as Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have expressed their interest, and the ball is now “in the government’s camp,” Chief Executive Anne Lauvergeon told reporters on a trip to Namibia, French daily Les Echos and the Financial Times said on Monday.
“We now have to finalise valuation, conditions and governance matters, and we have to do that by the end of April, or beginning of May,” Les Echos reported Lauvergeon as saying.
Areva has plans to raise about 10 billion euros by 2012 to fund its expansion and research and development into a new generation of nuclear power plants.
The state-owned group has already agreed to sell its power transmission and distribution business (T&D) to French engineering group Alstom and electric equipment company Schneider Electric for 4.09 billion euros.
It now plans to issue new shares representing 15 percent of its capital, which would lower the French stake, which with direct and indirect holdings currently stands at 93 percent.
Areva currently has a market capitalisation of 18.5 billion euros, based on the current value of the investment certificates that trade on the Paris stock market and represent just over 4 percent of the company’s capital.
Areva was also contemplating the idea of a share listing for its uranium mining division, valued at 6 billion euros, Les Echos said, citing a source close to the matter.
The group also owns 26 percent in French mining group Eramet , and a merger between its mining unit and Eramet could be envisaged eventually, Les Echos added.
Lauvergeon was in Namibia for the inauguration of a desalination plant that will be used for the production of its Trekkopje mine. Areva is seeking to diversify its mining portfolio to reduce its reliance on politically troubled Niger.
The Financial Times reported that Areva was well placed to to build Jordan’s first nuclear reactors, citing unidentified officials that attended the inauguration in Namibia.
The officials said Jordan was particularly interested in the new-generation 1,100 megawatt Atmea nuclear reactor that Areva is developing. Jordan is planning to name three preferred bidders to compete for the contract for at least one reactor by the end of April.
Areva and consortium partners lost in December a $36 billion nuclear power plant deal to South Korea’s KEPCO in Abu Dhabi, with sources close to the talks saying that Emiratis had deemed Areva’s 1,600 MW EPR reactor too expensive.