Power firm backs GDF Suez offer

The energy firm has increased its offer price for the 30 per cent of the business not already in its hands to 418p a share, equivalent to £6.4bn.

The proposal has been backed by International Power’s independent directors after they rejected an offer of 390p a share earlier this month.

GDF’s acquisition, which is still subject to shareholder approval, comes a year after it took a controlling stake in a new company that combined International Power’s 45 power stations with its own non-European assets.

The new International Power business has six plants in the UK, including joint ownership of the giant coal-fired station at Rugeley in Staffordshire, which powers the equivalent of half a million homes.

It also owns the gas-fired station at Saltend, near Hull, and is a majority owner in the First Hydro hydroelectric plants at Dinorwig and Ffestiniog in North Wales. The company has around 11,000 staff, with operations in 30 countries.

GDF employs 218,900 people worldwide and generated revenues of 90.7 billion euros (£75.5bn) in 2011.

Its chairman and chief executive Gerard Mestrallet said the move would allow the group to “fully capture growth in fast growing markets”, including Asia.