Spanish bid war escalates as TXU and Unión lock horns

The stakes were raised in the bidding war for Spain’s Hidroeléctrica del Cantabrico as the country’s third biggest energy company, Unión Fenosa, chipped in with a $2.55 billion offer. Just as Fenosa’s bid looked likely to succeed, Cantabrico shareholders failed to agree to remove a “poison pill” company statute that would have cleared the way for the deal. TXU, which owns a 10 per cent share of the company, blocked the move, vowing to revive its takeover offer if that of Fenosa failed by the mid-May deadline.