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Nuclear News: French government forces Areva’s ‘iron lady’ to bend

Nuclear News: French government forces Areva’s ‘iron lady’ to bend ’Areva’s board meets today to rubber stamp what was always inevitable – the sale of the nuclear group’s transmission and distribution business and its stakes in a number of blue-chip companies. This is what Areva’s main shareholder, the French government, has long wanted to fund the rising investment needs of its nuclear champion. This is what Jean-Cyril Spinetta, its new chairman – also the chairman of Air France-KLM – is going to recommend. He is also expected to confirm that the government, which, through different state or state-controlled institutions, owns more than 90 per cent of Areva, has agreed to open up the company’s capital to new investors, although perhaps not the investors Anne Lauvergeon, Areva chief executive, would have wanted. Ms Lauvergeon, sometimes called France’s “iron lady”, has long campaigned for a market flotation to open up the group’s capital, which is only traded through investment certificates.

Nuclear News: French government forces Areva’s ‘iron lady’ to bend

July 1, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized