8 Jan 2010

Areva deal may affect New Caledonia's SLN

12:58 pm on 8 January 2010

The French state-controlled nuclear engineering group Areva is about to shed its 26 percent stake in the nickel mining company Eramet which is a key stakeholder in New Caledonia's SLN.

SLN is the territory's largest private sector employer.

The newspaper Le Figaro says talks have been underway for months for Eramet to transfer its interest imminently to the FSI, an entity created by the French state as a sovereign wealth fund to invest in companies.

Dow Jones Newswires quoted a source as saying that the transaction could be concluded in the first quarter of the year for about 1.0 billion euros