Areva capital increase approved

Shareholders in the French nuclear energy group Areva have approved a €900-million ($1.2-billion) capital increase, the company said in a statement.

The increase, approved on Thursday, includes a €600-million investment by the Kuwait Investment Authority.

The Kuwaiti sovereign fund will acquire a 4.8 per cent stake in Areva, becoming the company's third largest shareholder, after the French atomic energy agency and the government. 

The French state subscribed to the remaining €300 million euros.

Standard and Poor's warned earlier this month that it would likely downgrade France's state-owned nuclear services group as the €900 million in fresh capital was significantly less than it had expected.

However, the French government has said that Areva's sale of non-strategic assets had, along with the capital increase, raised €6.3 billion in funds to invest in the company's development.

The capital increase portends major changes for the French state-controlled company as the Kuwaiti Investment Authority insisted Areva's shares be listed on the stock exchange, which should occur in the first quarter of 2011.

So far only a small fraction of the company's capital, in the form of investment certificates which are more difficult to trade, have been listed on the stock market.