International Business / The Pacific

Britain Blocks Utility Buyouts: In a surprise decision, the government blocked two controversial takeover bids by electricity generators National Power and PowerGen. Trade and Industry Minister Ian Lang said the bids for the regional electricity firms Southern Electric and Midlands Electricity, respectively, could pose “significant detriments” to competition. Lang’s ruling reverses an earlier decision by the Monopolies and Merger Commission that National Power’s $3.78-billion bid for Southern Electric and PowerGen’s $2.95-billion bid for Midlands should be allowed to proceed, and came as a shock because the mergers had been widely expected to be cleared. It may also affect a possible takeover bid for National Power by Atlanta-based utility Southern Co. Analysts had seen National Power’s rush to renew its bid for Southern Electric as an attempt to ward off a possible hostile bid from Southern.