Kuwait boosts stake in French nuclear giant Areva

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Kuwait_boosts_stake_in_French_nuclear_giant_Areva_999.html Paris (AFP) Dec 11, 2010 Areva on Saturday approved a 900-million-euro (1.17 billion dollars) capital hike under which the Kuwait Investment Authority will hold nearly five percent stake in the French nuclear giant. The recapitalisation values the strategically important Areva at 11.5 billion euros, of which the Kuwaiti fund (KIA) will now control 4.8 percent.
"The group's supervisory board, meeting today under the chairmanship of Jean-Cyril Spinetta, examined and approved the launch of a reserved capital increase of 900 million euros, representing 7.2 percent of its share capital at the completion of the transaction," a statement said.
It said Kuwait would supply two-thirds of the capital hike and the French state the remaining third at 300 million euros.
Areva said its outlook for 2012 included a revenue of 12 billion euros and "a double-digit operating margin."
The French government holds 93 percent of Areva -- set up in 2001 -- and discussions about attracting other investors, including Qatar and Japan's Mitsubishi, have been underway for some time.
Areva's repeatedly delayed capital increase is aimed at funding its investment plans through to 2012 and had to be concluded by the end of the year.
Talks foundered with Qatar and Mitsubishi, a major player in nuclear power generation, meaning the French state had to contribute 300 million euros to the recapitalisation in order to make the end of year deadline.
Besides building nuclear power plants, Areva last year emerged as the world's largest miner of uranium, offering a complete range of services across the sector from fuel to energy production.

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Areva to announce major Chinese contracts: report

Paris (AFP) Nov 1, 2010 French nuclear energy giant Areva is expected to announce a number of major Chinese contracts during President Hu Jintao's state visit to France this week, Les Echos business daily reported. The group will sign a deal worth three billion dollars to supply nuclear fuel to China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp (CGNPC), Les Echos reported in its Tuesday edition.
This would see the French firm supply 20,000 tonnes of uranium over the next 10 years, the report said.
Areva will also likely announce progress in negotiations with CGNPC over the construction of two new-generation nuclear reactors, the newspaper said, without citing sources.
Areva may also resume negotiations with the China National Nuclear Corporation over the construction of a nuclear reprocessing facility, it added.
Hu's visit starting Thursday is expected to focus on economic issues and include a series of deals in the aerospace and environmental technology sectors.

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Africa's uranium business turns risky

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Africas_uranium_business_turns_risky_999.html Niamey, Niger (UPI) Sep 24, 2010 Suddenly, the uranium mining industry is becoming a risky business, it seems. Islamic militants who kidnapped seven people at a French-owned uranium mine in Niger Sept. 16 have warned Western firms that "steal our wealth Â… to leave promptly."
In recent months, the steep rise in the price of uranium oxide, used to fuel nuclear power plants, has attracted Canadian, Australian and Chinese companies to challenge the monopoly in Niger held by France's state-owned nuclear giant, Areva.
It remains to be seen whether these companies will be prepared to risk moving into Niger but uranium is much in demand and that's liable to grow as government around the globe shift to nuclear power as oil reserves shrink.
Nowhere is the nuclear drive stronger than in the Middle East, where oil has been the engine of economic growth.
Al-Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb, which claims to hold the hostages seized in Niger, declared in a statement France shouldn't take military action against it and cast its warning further afield.
It said Western firms "that steal our wealth and take advantage of our people should know that they are legitimate targets for the mujaheddin and they should leave promptly because our land is not a field for plunder and our wealth is not something to be taken advantage of."
That may be little more than jihadist rhetoric to cover a kidnap-for-ransom enterprise and there is considerable skepticism that AQIM has the resources to conduct such a campaign.
But the colonial legacy of France, Britain and Belgium and the backing they have given African dictators in return for access to the continent's wealth is sure to strike a chord among impoverished Africans whose leaders have plundered their countries' natural resources to enrich themselves.
France, which started giving up its 16 colonies in north and west Africa in the 1960s, has been a leading proponent of such a policy.
For decades, this produced corrupt and brutal, yet stable, African partners for France, helping it fend off the rival influences of Britain, the United States and more recently China.
These included President Omar Bongo of resource-rich Gabon, a notorious plunderer who died in June after 41 years in power in what is now the fourth largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa.
France has often provided military support for these dictators. From 1997 to 2002, France intervened militarily in its former African colonies 34 times -- 26 of them outside the umbrella of the United Nations.
In June 2009, African analyst Khadija Sharife, writing in Foreign Policy in Focus, observed: "France drew up secretive defense agreements, which are still active today, that authorized it to legally maintain military bases in the Ivory Coast, Gabon, Togo, Cameroon, Djibouti, the Central African Republic, Senegal and other countries Â…
"Clauses contained within the agreements also ensured that France was legally entitled to be informed of and maintain priority access to natural resources, including uranium, oil and gas."
Still, French influence has been waning in Africa. But President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed when he was elected three years ago he would restore French influence in the former colonies and French-speaking countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, once ruled by Belgium.
The DRC, fabulously wealthy in natural resources, has been steadily plundered by warring factions over the last two decades. It is the world's largest French-speaking nation and if peace is ever restored would be a vital economic partner for Paris.
France's desire to have access to the wealth of the DRC and neighboring Congo-Brazzaville was illustrated by the decision by a French appeals court in October 2009 to halt a judicial investigation into the alleged plundering of their countries' riches by President Denis Sassou-Nguesso of Congo-Brazzaville, Omar Bongo of Gabon and Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea.
The latter is a former Spanish colony but Paris has courted its despotic rulers because the country's a burgeoning oil producer of growing strategic importance.
The charges of pillaging these nations with the connivance of successive French governments and using the loot to buy real estate in France were brought against the trio of African tyrants by the anti-corruption group Transparency International.
A senior investigating magistrate ruled in May 2009 that there was a case to answer, much to the dismay of Paris. State prosecutors sought to have the investigation stopped, and the appeals court ruled in their favor.