Electricite de France, the French electricity company that
is Europe's largest power generator, plans further expansion outside
the European Union to offset an inevitable decline in its domestic
market share, the company's top executive said in a report in the
Financial Times Thursday.
Pierre Gadonneix, EdF's chairman and chief executive, told
the paper that the company had ambitions to take part in the expected
consolidation of U.S. utilities, and confirmed that it was looking at
investing in Russia's electricity industry.
He identified four countries as EDF's priorities for
investment in new nuclear power plants: the U.S., the U.K., China and
South Africa.
He also confirmed that EdF was interested in buying Suez's stake in the Belgian gas distribution business Distrigas SA , which will be sold following the planned merger of Suez with
Gaz de France, though he said he expected "all the major
energy operators" to compete for it.