(521.5112) WISE Amsterdam - BNFL, Uranit and UCN each own one third of Urenco. Uranit's two shareholders, the German nuclear utilities Preussenelektra and RWE, are willing to sell their Uranit shares to BNFL.
BNFL's takeover would be part of an ongoing gulf of mergers in the European nuclear industry. Up to now, mergers have taken place in the nuclear electricity sector and nuclear engineering. In the end there will be only one or two companies offering everything nuclear in one deal: uranium, enrichment, fuel, transport, storage, reprocessing and waste management. Those two would probably be BNFL and Cogema, which both seek market domination in nuclear fuel cycle services.
BNFL already discussed earlier this year a possible takeover of Uranit. This summer it was rumored there were other candidates for buying Uranit: the Canadian uranium company Cameco, the German nuclear firms Siemens and Nukem. But now these three are no longer interested. Siemens and Framatome are close to a merger of all or most of their nuclear activities. According to November 15 issue of Ux Weekly, the French company Cogema has joined the bidding for Urenco. The company is considering either buying the interest currently offered by the German and Dutch shareholders, or becoming a fourth partner in the enterprise.
More recently BNFL has held discussions too with Dutch officials over terms of sale of the Dutch Urenco partner UCN in Almelo, German market sources reported. UCN is owned for 98% by the Dutch government, the other 2% held by the industry (including Royal Dutch Shell, Philips and DSM). If BNFL would succeed in buying Uranit and UCN, it would boost its sales and profits, as Urenco is quickly expanding its market share, especially in the US, and its profits have increased considerably. Uranit and UCN got billions of government subsidies in the past.
Source:
- Nuclear Fuel, 28 June and 1 November 1999
- UI Newsbrief 46, 10-16 November 1999
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