Areva may need to separate underperforming activities from main operations; government could inject EUR 2bn
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron are understood to have tasked Philippe Varin to head Areva, the state-owned nuclear power specialist, weekly Challenges reported. The report added that Varin, in charge of rescuing Areva, could consider creating a holding company where all the worst performing and heavily loss-making operations of the company, would be transferred to and sold at a later date. Such assets would include the EPR nuclear power plant construction project in Finland, where the estimated additional costs could amount to EUR 10bn+.
The report went on to say that the French government could also inject into Areva EUR 2bn of fresh money from the sale of companies operating in the nuclear power sector.
Varin would also be in charge of re-creating a “united” French team for the sale of nuclear power plants internationally, with the help of Alstom for the turbines, Bouygues for heavy construction, Areva for the boilers, and EDF as the project manager.
The report also noted that China is a strategic market for nuclear power plants and Varin, who developed strong relationships in China as the former head of listed French carmaker PSA Peugeot-Citroen, would push hard to sell contracts for providing nuclear fuel to the Chinese power plants.
Source Challenges