EDF to bid for Areva reactor business

French state-owned companies could partner to turnaround failing reactors business

French electricity company Électricité de France is set to bid to buy the nuclear reactor business of Areva within days, French media is reporting.

According to an interview with head of EDF, Jean-Bernard Levy on Le Figaro, the state-owned electricity group, which runs the largest fleet of nuclear plants in the world, could make an offer for Areva NP by 3 June, pending talks with the French government.

Areva, which is also majority-owned by the French government, has been struggling to cope with mounting losses and delays to the construction of its latest generation of EPR reactors in Okiluoto, Finland and Flamanville, France. The company reported a massive €4.8 billion loss for 2014 earlier this month, its fourth consecutive annual loss and said it would be cutting up to 6,000 jobs around the world over the next two years.

Areva's problems have also been compounded by a general slow-down in the nuclear sector after the Fukushima disaster.

The bid to buy Areva NP would not include its other businesses, such as uranium mining and nuclear fuels, and could see the company's 1200 staff absorbed into EDF, in order to “safeguard skills and achievements”, Levy is quoted as saying.

Levy is expected to speak at EDF's Annual Meeting today in Paris.