EDF/British Energy: Not much sleep

It’s tough to play nice guy when you’re a E110bn state-owned gorilla in a fast-deregulating market. EDF, the French electricity company, is finding it has an acceptance problem. Whether it wants to expand in Spain or grow in Britain, it runs into obstacles akin to those facing Gazprom, the gas behemoth, in its endeavours away from mother Russia: no one wants the bear in its own backyard. In EDF’s case, other European countries don’t relish the idea of the French government exerting undue influen...