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Article: European power companies scramble
- Article from:
- InTech
- Article date:
- August 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Instrument Society of America Aug 2001. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Across Europe, few sectors are as busy as utilities, where companies seem to be now engaged in an endless round of mergers and demergers; buyouts and buybacks; sell-offs and sell-outs.
In Italy, there was consternation when Electricite de France (EdF), the French state-owned electricity company, revealed that it had acquired a 4% stake in Montedison, which owns 62% of Edison, Italy's largest wholly private utility.
Other European utilities are poised to follow its example, slowly acquiring shares until they have something useful. The attraction, of course, is attractive profit margins, coupled with strong demand growth: about 2.5% during the next 10 years, compared with an average of 2% ...