British Energy sent Electricité de France packing when EDF first proffered £12 billion for the company in July – an amount deemed to be too low. But it turns out EDF won’t be so easily dissuaded. A sneak peek at how, investor by investor, it’s beginning to make headway.

Electricité de France is moving closer to a deal to buy British Energy, the nuclear generator, after talks with some of the UK company’s biggest investors have begun to bear fruit.

The French utility, whose £12bn (€14.8bn) bid was rebuffed by British Energy’s shareholders in July, has offered to boost the potential pay-out under its alternative cash-and-paper bid depending on the future performance of the UK group.

Negotiations are still at an early stage with British Energy’s investors, which include Invesco Perpetual, its second-biggest shareholder with 15 per cent of the group. These talks have made progress, although people close to the situation stressed that the discussions could still fail. M&G, the group’s third-largest investor with 7 per cent of the shares, remains adamant that it has had no conversations with EDF.

However, the sharp fall in the oil price during the past month appears to have convinced some shareholders to be more flexible in their demands on price.

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