Zapatero adds fuel to EDF and Iberdrola merger speculation

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain's Prime Minister, may be warming to the idea of a possible takeover by French state-controlled electricity giant EDF of ScottishPower-owner Iberdrola, his country's biggest utility.

Zapatero, whose remarks on the subject were published yesterday in a Spanish newspaper, signalled that conditions were now ripe for EDF to enter Spain's energy market and that he expected talks to take place after the country's presidential elections on March 9.

EDF has already stated that it is interested in buying into the Spanish power market, and has admitted it held talks with Spanish construction group ACS, which controls 13% of Iberdrola.

While no deal was reached, the Bilbao-based utility has been at the centre of a tornado of takeover speculation in recent weeks. Germany's E.ON has also been named as a potential predator.

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