ABSTRACT
The government decision in 1995 to privatise British Energy fired the starting gun. But there were many hurdles ahead before the company could be sold to private investors. Many of those involved in the privatisation of British Energy recall it as one of the most difficult flotations they had ever worked on. These difficulties arose in three areas: i) investor ignorance and suspicion about nuclear power; ii) the unusual level of antagonism between the company’s executives and the government and its advisor, BZW; and iii) the unfortunate timing of a key station shutdown late in the privatisation process. Although the company was eventually sold, its early days in the private sector were coloured by the controversy over the flotation and a lack of interest from the main British investment institutions.
