Centrica welcomes today's decision from the Office of Fair Trading to approve Centrica's acquisition of 20% of British Energy from EDF.

Under the joint venture arrangements with EDF, Centrica will acquire a 20 per cent. interest in British Energy, the operator of eight existing nuclear power stations of which EDF acquired control in January 2009, and will offtake 20% of the uncontracted power from the British Energy fleet. EDF and Centrica will also form a separate 80/20 joint venture through which they will undertake the pre-development activities for a planned nuclear new build programme, with the intention of constructing, operating and decommissioning four European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs). EDF will also provide Centrica with an additional 18TWh of power at market prices over five years from 2011.

Completion of the British Energy acquisition remains conditional upon, and will take place simultaneously with, the sale of Centrica's majority holding in its Belgian business, SPE, to EDF for €1.325bn (£1.2bn). The SPE sale requires approval from the European Commission, which is expected in the coming months.