Energy group Delta, which is still in the hands of Zeeland local authorities, has hired merchant bank Morgan Stanley to investigate a potential merger or sale, the Financieele Dagblad says on Wednesday.

‘We are taking a broad approach,’ a spokesman told the paper. ‘We can continue as an independent, merge or be sold off, and that could involve an international company.’

Delta is owner of the Netherlands’ only nuclear power station in Borssele and turned over €2.2bn in 2012.

Nuon and Essent, the numbers one and two in the Dutch energy market, are both in foreign hands. Essent is owned by German energy group RWE while Nuon was bought by Swedish state power group Vattenfall.