Qatar studying Areva investment - Prime Minister

Qatar, holder of the world’s third biggest natural gas reserves, may invest in Areva SA to help the company fund an expansion in the nuclear power market.

“We are studying the matter,” Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasim Bin Jaber Al Thani said today at a meeting with reporters in Doha.

Qatar, which plans to raise its liquefied natural gas output by 42 percent this year, is using increasing petroleum revenue to fund investments abroad.



The country’s sovereign wealth fund increased its stake in Volkswagen AG last year to 17 percent. It’s also the largest shareholder in Sainsbury Plc and Barclays Plc, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Areva chief executive officer Anne Lauvergeon said last month the nuclear reactor builder found investors ready to participate in a capital increase.

The company said in June it planned to sell a 15 percent stake and divest its power grid operation to finance the expansion.

Areva sold its transmission and distribution unit for more than $5.5 billion, the CEO said last month.

Qatar’s prime minister said he “could not talk about” the possibility of increasing the country’s stake in Sainsbury.
 

(Bloomberg)