EDF is seen near a £12 billion deal to buy British Energy Group

Électricité de France is close to buying British Energy Group, Britain's largest producer of nuclear power, for as much as £12 billion to gain control over its eight atomic plants and land where more plants could be built, a person briefed on the takeover plan said Friday. An agreement on the deal, worth the equivalent of $23.9 billion, might be reached as early as this coming week, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions were not public. A takeover would end five months of negotiations about the future of British Energy, in which the government holds a 35.8 percent stake and stock market investors the rest. The deal would leave the company, the supplier of about 17 percent of Britain's electricity, in foreign hands. A deal would bring EDF, the world's biggest nuclear power company, closer to... [read full story]