By Inti Landauro
PARIS--The French government has asked utility Électricité de
France SA and beleaguered nuclear engineering firm Areva SA to make
proposals for a tie-up to help rescue Areva from years of
losses.
EDF and Areva, which are both state controlled, must make
efforts to cooperate better over the construction of nuclear
reactors and international business, French Economy Minister
Emmanuel Macron said Thursday. He said he asked both companies to
make proposals in the coming weeks.
"There are industrial and financial plans, but not for the whole
of Areva, just the nuclear reactor part," Mr. Macron said on French
television channel BFMTV.
Areva is working on a plan to sell assets, cut costs, reduce
capital expenditure and start talks with unions over possible job
cuts after posting a EUR4.8 billion ($5.4 billion) net loss in
2014, the company's fourth consecutive annual loss.
The company faces major hurdles with its contract to build a
reactor in Finland, which has cost it billions of euros so far, a
bad acquisition of a uranium mine, and a slowdown in the nuclear
industry after the Fukushima disaster in 2011.
Mr. Macron recently said in an interview with Le Figaro that the
partnership between Areva and EDF should be strengthened, possibly
"going as far as a tie-up of capital."
Separately, Mr. Macron said he isn't opposed to the sale of a
controlling stake in French video-streaming company Dailymotion to
Hong Kong-based PCCW Ltd., but said he wants to be sure Orange SA,
which controls the website, has looked at all potential buyers in
Europe first.
Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com
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