Chapter 585 Long time no see

In fact, the British government had no choice but to sell its 35% stake in British Energy Group.

Currently, nuclear power generation in Britain accounts for about 20% of the total electricity consumption, but most nuclear power plants will be retired before 2030. Therefore, before that, new nuclear power plants need to be built to replace those retired nuclear power plants, which requires huge expenditures - the total investment is expected to exceed US$30 billion!

The British government has always had plans for energy conservation and emission reduction. While gradually reducing domestic thermal power plants, their energy demand gap must be filled by nuclear power plants.

Therefore, if you continue to hold most of the shares of British Energy Group, you may need to consider the subsequent nuclear power plant replacement plan from now on and make a financial budget for it.

After all, nuclear power plants cannot be built in the short term. Don’t look at the fact that 2030 is still more than 20 years away from now, but you need to know that these nuclear power plants are retired one after another, so from three to five years later, you need to plan for new nuclear power plants.

Another issue involved is the location of the nuclear power plant...

Because nuclear power plants require a lot of cooling, it can be found that almost all nuclear power plants are built by the sea.

Of course, Britain is an island country, and it is not short of locations near the sea - but the voices of the surrounding people are also something that needs to be considered, especially under systems like Europe and the United States. It is not uncommon for large-scale projects such as the construction of nuclear power plants to take ten or twenty years to discuss.

In addition, although Britain built nuclear power plants a long time ago, their current technology is no longer advanced. So for the technology used in new nuclear power plants, there are currently only two options: the AP1000 of the American Westinghouse Consortium and the ERP technology of the French Areva Group.

In this way, not only can the sale of British Energy Group's shares obtain considerable profits, but selling it to some powerful large groups will also be beneficial to the promotion of future projects. Therefore, the British government conducted this tender for the sale of British Energy Group.

EDF is very positive about this, because as the French government holds more than 80% of the shares of EDF, it can expand its market share in the British power industry by acquiring BEG, and most importantly, it can also expand the market for Areva Group's ERP nuclear power technology.

But as Barron said, the British government does not want all its nuclear power to be controlled by French companies unless it has no other options, so they still welcome and encourage the participation of United Energy Group.

Similarly, during this meeting, Brown also revealed to Barron that according to the British government's opinion, even if EDF completes the acquisition of BEG, they will require the other party to hand over at least two nuclear power plants to British companies for operation.

However, now there are two local British companies, including United Energy Group, participating in the competition with BEG - the other one is the CENTRICA Group they talked about before, which is the largest natural gas supplier in Britain and one of the largest public utility service companies in the world.

The company is the product of the reorganization of the former British Gas Company in 1997. Before 1986, it was a state-owned monopoly enterprise. At the beginning of the reorganization, it mainly supplied gas to civil, industrial and chemical customers. However, now, in addition to its inherent natural gas business, Centrica Group also involves power, finance and telecommunications services.

At present, the share price of British Energy Group is around 5.65 pounds per share, with a market value of about 9.05 billion pounds.

Next, EDF, United Energy Group and Centrica Group will make quotations to British Energy Group before the end of May, and the board of directors of British Energy Group will finally choose which party to accept the acquisition offer.

The decision to acquire British Energy Group is also a move by United Energy Group to enter the British electricity market.

Prior to this, United Energy Group already had a certain scale of power division-the previous Unocal Company had some power plants in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. After acquiring Unocal, United Energy Group acquired a local power company to form their power division.

However, their related businesses are currently only carried out in some countries in Southeast Asia. Now United Energy Group also hopes to acquire British Energy Group to own its power generation and power grid business in the UK, which will be a public service project that can generate stable profits.

…

The band played relaxing music, and people in the hall talked in low voices. From time to time, ladies and girls accepted the invitation and walked to the dance floor with their male companions.

This was a cocktail party hosted by the Duke of Westminster. He specially invited Barron, so he came here tonight as a relaxation.

"I heard that your wife is pregnant again. Congratulations, Barron."

"Thank you, William, I also need to congratulate you. It's really a happy thing that you and Cather can get back together."

Prince William also came to the reception, and brought Cather with him.

They had already announced their reunion at the end of last year, and began to publicly participate in some activities together.

At that time, Barron and his family were in the United States, so this was the first time Barron met them after the two reunited.

Today, Cather, wearing a nude tulle dress, looked particularly beautiful.

She just smiled and didn't speak, but William said to Barron in a happy tone:

"Yes, we had a little problem before, but now it's all solved. I'm sure she is the one I want to go on with."

"Then I'm really happy for you, and Cather, you look very beautiful today, but it's a pity that Bonnie is not suitable for going out recently... At this time, she needs extra attention, and the winter in London is a bit too cold."

Cather nodded very elegantly:

"That's right, Your Highness, I hope to visit her if I have a chance. We had a very pleasant chat before."

"That's great, I believe she will be very happy."

...

This kind of occasion has a strong social attribute. With Barron's identity, it is inevitable that too many people will take the initiative to come and talk to him.

After dealing with some people, Barron walked to the balcony on the second floor and prepared to stay alone for a while to get a moment of leisure.

However, when he was about to look downstairs, he caught a familiar figure in his peripheral vision, walking into the bathroom on the second floor - it seemed that there were too many people on the first floor.

Continuing to look downstairs, Barron found that William was chatting with several nobles in high spirits.

"Ah... um, why is it you, Barron."

When Cather just walked out of the bathroom, she was pulled in again by Barron.

When she just screamed and was covered by the other party, but saw clearly that this person was Barron, she couldn't help but lower her voice and asked nervously.

Barron closed the door and locked it.

"Long time no see, Cather..."

He pushed Cather against the wall, close to her ear, and whispered:

"I miss you very much during this period, especially that period..."

"Are you crazy, Barron, what if someone finds out..."

It is obvious that Cather is really worried about this, and she tries to keep her voice as low as possible.

"So you'd better hurry up, dear."

"Don't do this, Barron..."

As she was speaking, Barron pressed her shoulders down and made her kneel on the carpet...

"Hmm..."