The race to take over German wind power maker Areva has intensified with French nuclear reactor maker Areva raising its offer for REpower to 140 euros a share on Thursday. The French company also acquired more than 30 per cent of REpower, which is also the target of Pune-based Suzlon Energy Ltd.“Areva announced today that it has agreed to acquire additional shares of REpower Systems AG for a purchase price of 140 euros per REpower share,” the state-owned French company said in a statement. The bid represents a 6.3 per cent premium to REpower’s latest closing share price and values the German company at 1.14 billion euros (around Rs 6,600 crore).Suzlon Energy chairman Tulsi Tanti said it was awaiting details of an increased bid by Areva. “We have noted Areva’s offer and are awaiting further details, which we will evaluate and then issue our response,” Tanti said on Thursday.Areva’s move comes after REpower recommended an offer worth 126 euros a share from Suzlon, the world’s fifth-largest wind turbine maker, which had in turn trumped a previous offer from Areva worth 105 euros. Areva was already the largest shareholder in REpower with a stake of just under 30 per cent, the threshold for a compulsory bid to all shareholders.Suzlon last month teamed up with Martifer, a unit of Portugal’s largest builder Mota Engil, to launch a bid for REpower. Martifer owns more than 25 per cent of REpower. Wind-power firms are attracting speculative interest on the back of fast-growing pollution free energy technologies. Areva said it would offer to all shareholders the same price at which it had bought its latest shares. The offer is in cash. “As a consequence of this purchase, Areva will own 2,435,445 shares of REpower, representing slightly above 30 per cent of the company’s share capital,” the French company said.“As a legal consequence of this purchase, the price offered by Areva in its public offer to all shareholders of REpower published on February 5th 2007 has increased to 140 euros per REpower share.”
