Wednesday February 27, 10:14 PM
Iberdrola complains to EU about French role in EDF bid: source
MADRID (AFP) - Iberdrola (Madrid: BIB.MC - news) , Spain's second-biggest energy utility, has filed a complaint against Paris with the European Union for supporting French power giant EDF (Paris: FR0010242511 - news) in its bid to win control of the company, a source close to the Spanish group said Wednesday.
The source said Iberdrola had submitted the complaint to Brussels on Tuesday, charging that the French government was party to the bid since it owns nearly 85 percent of EDF and appoints a third of its board.
Iberdrola argued that France contravenes European Union laws through its control of EDF and discourages any potential investor in the company, the source said.
Earlier this month, EDF said it had been in contact with Spanish construction group ACS (Madrid: ACS.MC - news) , the biggest shareholder in Iberdrola.
Last week, the chairman of the Spanish utility said EDF would not be welcome as a shareholder in the firm, which is also the world's largest owner of wind-energy parks.
"It has been made clear that EDF is not welcome from a political, social, union, territorial or shareholder point of view," Ignacio Sanchez Galan said, charging that the French government "thinks France is for the French ... and everything else as well."
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