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French energy giant EDF's UK subsidiary EDF Energy would not comment Wednesday on press reports that no deal would be reached with UK's Centrica over ownership of nuclear generator British Energy until after the European Commission ratified the French company's takeover bid. State-controlled EDF's Eur15.6 billion ($22 billion) takeover of British Energy was agreed September 24 by the boards of EDF and British Energy and is subject to UK and EC regulatory approval.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund said on Wednesday it has filed a suit in a U.S. court to prevent Constellation Energy (CEG.N) from convening a shareholders meeting due to vote on a takeover by MidAmerican. Norway's fund owns 4.8 percent in Constellation, whose value it said was undervalued by the offer by MidAmerican Energy, a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N). Since MidAmerican's move was proposed and backed by Constellation's board, French power company Electricite de France (EDF.PA) made an offer for Constellation assets "that values it substantially higher" than MidAmerican's offer, the Norwegian oil fund said.

The takeover of Holland's biggest energy utility Essent by the German power giant RWE announced yesterday includes the Dutch firm's 50% stake in the Netherlands' only nuclear power plant, Borssele, reports Tuesday's Financieele Dagblad. Dutch economic affairs minister Maria van der Hoeven said in October that the possibility of Dutch nuclear energy facilities coming into foreign hands was 'not an option', the paper says. The remaining 50% of Borssele is owned by the Dutch utility Delta.

NRG's board of directors has unanimously rejected Exelon Corp.'s unsolicited takeover bid, NRG announced November 24. Howard Cosgrove, chairman of the NRG board, said in a press statement that the "Exelon offer is inadequate, dilutive, significantly undervalues NRG and does not fully reflect the underlying fundamental value of NRG's assets, operations and strategic plan," including its market position and prospects for future growth. NRG, based in Princeton, New Jersey, owns and operates one of the country's largest and most diverse power-generating portfolios, including its 44% stake in the two-reactor South Texas Project. Two additional reactors are being considered for that nuclear power plant. NRG added that Exelon's offer might have required "refinancing of all or a significant amount of NRG's existing indebtedness and yet Exelon has not publicly announced that it has committed financing for the offer."

NRG Energy, Inc. rejected Sunday a $6.1 billion takeover bid by Exelon Corp., openly challenging whether the Chicago-based parent company of Commonwealth Edison could successfully manage what would have been the country's largest power generation company. Exelon made an unsolicited all-stock offer last month that valued NRG at a 37 percent premium, a figure that dipped to 9.4 percent by the close of the stock market Friday. The offer proved underwhelming to the board of directors at NRG, which unanimously turned down a merger it said "significantly undervalues" the Princeton, NJ-based company.

LONDON (AFP) - Nuclear power operator British Energy said Monday that a series of takeover proposals it had received from unnamed parties undervalues the company. British Energy announced on May 16 that it had received several offers from parties interested in the company as Britain prepares major new atomic energy investment.

The board of nuclear generator British Energy is expected to recommend a £10bn takeover bid by French giant EDF within a fortnight. An announcement could be made as early as this week. The remaining rival bidders - German group RWE and Spanish utility Iberdrola, which owns Scottish Power - have not formally withdrawn from the auction. But banking sources said this weekend that it was unlikely that either would now table a firm offer for British Energy, the UK's largest power generator.

Exelon Corp. has won approval from federal energy regulators for its $5.2 billion hostile takeover of NRG Energy Inc., furthering the company's bid to become the largest U.S. producer of electricity. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted in favor of Exelon's petition to buy NRG. But the Justice Department, Nuclear Regulatory Commission and at least five states still must approve the deal. NRG responded that the "board and management team continue to believe that Exelon's proposal significantly undervalues NRG and remains highly conditional, including the need to obtain financing, and very risky because of rating agency and other concerns."

"Safely disposing of low-level radioactive waste is serious business and should lead to serious policy discussions. Unfortunately, The Salt Lake Tribune is less interested in getting its facts straight than using its Opinion page to take cheap shots at EnergySolutions. I do appreciate The Tribune 's willingness to let me set the record straight in response to its editorial of June 8. Anyone reading The Tribune editorial could conclude that EnergySolutions and the Department of Energy are in discussions about a DOE takeover of the company's Clive waste disposal site, which is simply not factual or even possible. "

By gaining control of slightly less than half of the outstanding stock in NRG Energy Inc., Exelon Corp. wants to turn a hostile $6 billion takeover effort into a friendly one. The NRG board rejected a proposed merger with the Chicago-based Exelon in November, only to find dissent from shareholders who agreed Tuesday to tender 45.6 percent of their stock to Exelon.

Energy concern Delta is to block the sale of Essent's 50% stake in the Netherlands' only nuclear power plant to the German power giant RWE, reports the Financieele Dagblad on Thursday. Delta and Essent are joint owners of the Borssele nuclear power station. On Monday RWE made a bid of €9.3bn to takeover Essent's commercial activities.

One of British Energy's biggest investors has so far declined to sell its stake to EdF, believing that the French company's £12.5bn takeover bid may yet fail regulatory hurdles. M&G, which owns 5pc of the UK nuclear power generator and helped block EdF's original offer, argues that the revised bid significantly undervalues British Energy.

Friday's announcement that French state owned utility Electricite de France (EDF) had pulled out of a takeover bid for British Energy has left Gordon Brown's nuclear aspirations in disarray. It was widely expected that, following months of negotiation, a deal would have been struck and a statement read to the sound of popping corks, but instead a rather sombre delivery was given to a stunned room.

Nation's Financial Crisis, Pending Takeover of Constellation Raise Concerns WASHINGTON, D.C. - A coalition of environmental and public interest groups today called on Maryland regulators to place a moratorium on the permitting of a new $9.6 billion nuclear reactor in light of the nation's worsening financial crisis and serious concerns about the stability of the company building the project. Constellation Energy Group, which is seeking permits to build the reactor at Calvert Cliffs, Md., was tied financially to Lehman Brothers Holdings, the giant investment firm that filed for bankruptcy Monday. By Wednesday's market close, Constellation shares had lost nearly 58 percent of their value, trading at less than $25 a share. In January, Constellation's stock was trading at a 52-week high of $107.97.

Centrica, Britain's biggest gas and electricity supplier, is to sound out institutional shareholders about reviving plans for a £22.5bn all-share merger with British Energy, The Sunday Telegraph has learned. Centrica, which owns British Gas, will gauge the appetite of City investors for a paper deal following the last-minute hitch in British Energy's takeover by EDF, the French government-controlled energy group, last week.

Recriminations over who was to blame for the collapse of the £12bn British Energy takeover deal have begun in earnest with questions raised over the credibility of the nuclear generator's board and the Government's entire energy policy. The deal fell apart late on Thursday evening when Sir Adrian Montague, chairman of BE, informed EDF shortly after 10pm that his board would be unable to recommend the French utility's offer as a number of shareholders, including Invesco and M&G, felt it was too low.

Nuclear power firm British Energy may end its plans to sell. The U.K. energy giant was planning to sell for an estimated $22 billion, but now instead it may join a series of joint ventures, Western Mail reported. The company -- which produces about a sixth of the United Kingdom's electricity -- has dismissed a series of takeover approaches that reportedly failed to match price expectations.

Chinese state-owned power producer China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co. Ltd has agreed a takeover bid for Australian uranium explorer Energy Metals (EME.AX), the Australian company said on Tuesday. Under the deal, the Chinese firm will buy up to 70 percent of Energy Metals for A$1.02 per share and underwrite a 1-for-9 rights issue by the Australian firm at 90 cents a share. Energy Metals's 40 percent shareholder, Jindalee Resources (JRL.AX) Ltd, intends to accept the Chinese bid, in the absence of a superior offer, Energy Metals said. Energy Metals shares last traded at 86 cents a share, giving it market value of about A$100 million ($86 million). ($1=1.169 Australian Dollar) (Reporting by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Jonathan Standing)

The pressure is on Chicago's Exelon Corp. to sweeten its bid for NRG Energy Inc. The New Jersey-based NRG is among four companies said to be receiving loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Energy to support new nuclear-power plants. If anything, that will make Exelon want it all the more, analysts said. Exelon launched an all-stock takeover bid in October that NRG has rejected as inadequate. NRG's proposed new nuclear plant in Texas "has been the prime reason Exelon is pursuing the company," said Travis Miller, equity analyst at Morningstar Inc. in Chicago. "It's a good growth opportunity."

NRG Energy Inc. said Wednesday that it has turned down Exelon Corp.'s revised hostile takeover bid of $8 billion in stock because it undervalues the business. Last week Exelon, the nation's largest nuclear power company, sweetened its offer by about $1 billion because of newly identified cost savings and NRG's recent $287.5 million deal for Reliant Energy's Texas retail business. In a letter to Exelon CEO John Rowe, Princeton-based NRG said it found the new bid was not in its shareholders' best interest but said it represented a "step in the right direction." NRG said it is still open to any proposal that properly accounts for its "fundamental value and extraordinary growth prospects." Exelon, Chicago, previously said that its most recent bid was its "best and final offer."