PARIS (Reuters) - French authorities expect a European Commission decision on Areva's restructuring in coming days and are ready to launch a capital increase for the nuclear group early next year, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Tuesday.
The source also said that talks were ongoing with Japan's JNFL - which manages Japanese nuclear fuel recycling plant Rokkasho-mura - about taking a minority state in nuclear fuel group Areva NewCo but that nothing had been decided yet. JNFL would replace Kazakhstan's Kazatomprom, which had also held talks about taking a stake earlier but has lost interest.
The source confirmed talks are ongoing with Japanese and Chinese investors to take a combined minority stake in Areva worth about 1 billion euros (838 million pounds).
The source said the talks were focussed on the issue of governance and that the Chinese want to be the main minority shareholder.
Areva chairman Philippe Varin said last month that talks are under way with China's National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) (T:7011) ($1 = 0.9411 euros)