Essent takeover 'includes nuclear plant'

Tuesday 13 January 2009

The takeover of Holland’s biggest energy utility Essent by the German power giant RWE announced yesterday includes the Dutch firm’s 50% stake in the Netherlands’ only nuclear power plant, Borssele, reports Tuesday’s Financieele Dagblad.

Dutch economic affairs minister Maria van der Hoeven said in October that the possibility of Dutch nuclear energy facilities coming into foreign hands was ‘not an option’, the paper says. The remaining 50% of Borssele is owned by the Dutch utility Delta.

The minister said yesterday she could not comment on the deal between RWE and Essent as she does not yet know the details.

RWE is expected to invest 'several billion euros' in the Netherlands in the coming three years, reports the FD. Essent will continue to operate under its own name in Holland under a management team consisting of two RWE and two Essent executives.

Not green enough for WWF

Meanwhile, the Volkskrant reports that conservation organisation WWF is considering dumping Essent as its lead sponsor.

‘Unlike Essent, RWE has a very modest reputation in the area of sustainable climate policy,’ WWF’s director Johan van de Gronden is quoted by the paper as saying. ‘The company makes extensive use of coal-fired power plants and as far as we know, no ambition to change this.’

Essent and the WWF have worked together since 1995 when the utility became the first to bring green energy onto the Dutch market, says the Volkskrant.

© DutchNews.nl

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