Tuesday 28 June 2011

Announcement for the AECL Candu Inc sale may be imminent

Is the the announcement for the sale of AECL Candu Inc imminent? it seems that way... It is quite amazing that this is going through with no real national dialogue/debate...even though the sale it may happen as early as this week, Ontario wants Fed gvnt to bear part of the financial risk of potential cost overruns on building new reactors in Ontario... “One of Canada’s largest Crown corporations is slated to be sold off in a single-bidder deal conducted in total secrecy,” natural resources critic Nathan Cullen said in a statement. “Canadians are rightly worried about getting their money’s worth.”  Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/dwight-duncan-on-ottawas-aecl-deal-what-are-they-going-to-do-for-ontario/article2078931/
This the the same story on the announcement of the sale on CBC... this one quotes Peter White, the head of the Society of Professional Engineers and Associates union that represents AECL workers, saying that "he has not received word of any deal, but did say that management have asked for a meeting with union leaders on Wednesday. "Somebody from AECL wants to talk tomorrow so that tells me something's going on," White said." Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/06/28/aecl-lavalin.html?ref=rss
and this is the report on G&M that started the frenzy of the rumors on the sale today:  "Critics say putting AECL into private hands could leave the nuclear company starved for resources and unable to compete effectively with global giants in the industry without federal subsidies. They fear AECL will be slimmed down and largely operate to service and refurbish existing reactors because SNC-Lavalin will try to avoid risk by reducing spending on research and development and new generation reactors.
The ambitious goal of building new generation reactors is crucial to the company’s future; no company can survive long on yesterday’s technology." Read more:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/ottawa-to-sell-aecl-to-snc-lavalin/article2078110/singlepage/#articlecontent
 and finally AECL might still have some value, guess what: SNC-Lavalin shares rise following AECL report: http://business.financialpost.com/2011/06/28/snc-lavalin-shares-rise-following-aecl-report/ 
And you know it is a big news day here in Canada when the news story make it to huffingtonpost: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/06/28/ottawa-to-announce-sale-o_n_885792.html
And this one in Reuters: "Little is known about SNC's bid, including the price, although analysts expect the company's offer to be modest, especially in the wake of negative sentiment globally toward nuclear energy after the Fukushima disaster.
SNC's bid is likely to give no value to AECL's reactor-building business and only price in its refurbishment operations, Northland NCP analyst Maxim Sytchev said.
"While the timing of AECL's acquisition is not ideal in the context of anti-nuclear sentiment, we believe that the asset will be priced to reflect the current reality," Sytchev said in an email to clients." read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/snclavalin-aecl-idUKN1E75R0OG20110628
 ... and no nuclear power company could have a long and bright future without a research reactor that could support its research and developments... lets not forget that a new research reactor could also be used for other purposes such as neutron scattering and isotope production... like NRU has done for the past 50 years!

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