Sweden's Vattenfall eyes move into UK

By Daniel Fineren

LONDON (Reuters) - Sweden's Vattenfall VATN.UL wants to expand into Britain by building power plants, buying existing assets and eventually entering the retail sector, the utility's Chief Executive Lars Josefsson said on Monday.

Poland and Finland are also interesting markets for Vattenfall's expansion plan for northern Europe, but expansion in other markets is more difficult, the head of the state-owned company said during the Reuters Energy Summit.

Britain is attractive because it is the most competitive and transparent market, welcomes new entrants, and needs to build a lot of new power generation capacity over the next few years.

"We are generally interested in Britain and our interest has not diminished," he said.

"We see ample possibilities for new build and we also see a few acquisition possibilities... We have an open mind... Nuclear new build is also interesting."

Vattenfall is one of several large European utilities to have been linked to a possible joint bid for UK nuclear power generator British Energy (BGY.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) this year.

Josefsson would not comment on reports that the anti-nuclear Swedish government had objected to Vattenfall's plans to take part in Britain's plans to build a new generation of nuclear power plants.

Vattenfall is still looking at many possible options for entry into the British market, including buying an existing utility, and building or buying individual plants.

Any new build in Britain would likely be wind power, nuclear or a fossil-fuel plant fitted with carbon capture and storage, he said, adding that Vattenfal would eventually like to sell to final consumers.

"Our sequence would be generation, then retail," he said.

(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com)