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INTERVIEW-UPDATE 1-GDF Suez rules out M&A, eyes organic growth

Published 07/03/2009, 08:48 AM
Updated 07/03/2009, 09:08 AM

* Has raised around 10 bln euros in debt since Oct

* 2008-10 capex plan of 30 bln euros unchanged

* Confirms seeking land in Britain for 2 nuclear reactors

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France, July 3 (Reuters) - GDF Suez will not use the billions of euros it has raised in the debt market since October to fund acquisitions and will continue to focus on organic growth, its chief said on Friday.

Asked by Reuters if GDF Suez was looking for acquisitions, Chief Executive Gerard Mestrallet said:

"No. We haven't changed. We are keeping the same strategy. We have not increased our level of investment. It is 30 billion euros and this programme is fundamentally based on organic growth."

Mestrallet was talking on the sidelines of an economic forum in southern France.

Asked if GDF Suez could change its mind should an attractive opportunity arise, Mestrallet said: "This is not in our projects. We are very relaxed on that."

GDF Suez, born of the merger of Gaz de France and Suez a year ago, has raised nearly 10 billion euros in several bond issues since October, fuelling speculation it may be ready to pounce on a target.

Mestrallet also confirmed that GDF Suez aimed to build two new-generation nuclear reactors in Britain.

"We are looking for land that could welcome two EPR reactors," he said.

A consortium of GDF Suez, Iberdrola and Scottish & Southern Energy made no purchases at an auction of nuclear power sites run by Britain's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in April, after being outbid by other European utilities.

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In May, Iberdrola said it was interested in buying land owned by EDF Energy that could be used to build new nuclear plants.

Mestrallet said GDF Suez was not currently in talks with EDF over the land that EDF wants to sell back.

"There are no negotiations. I am not even sure that the process has been formally launched," Mestrallet said.

(Reporting by Marie Maitre; editing by John Stonestreet)

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