European deal-making goes into overdrive

AES, THE WORLD'S largest independent power company, Electricité de France, the giant state-owned utility, and the Japanese trading company Marubeni, are the latest to join in the frenetic bidding to buy Drax, the 4 GW coal-fired power station in the north of England on sale by the UK's National Power. The asset is being sold in accordance with regulatory requirements concerning National Power's purchase of Midlands Electricity.