Areva. the top nuclear reactor builder of France announced that it would be selling its nuclear radiation measurement subsidiary to a private equity group. The subsidiary is Canberra and the buyers are led by Astorg Partners.
No terms or amounts were given in the announcement. The move is a major step by Areva to dispose assets in order to reduce debt and allow flexibility to make investments in other fields of business. The schedule is to complete the sale by the second quarter of 2013.
In a statement, Areva said, "The conclusion of this sale will allow the group to greatly exceed the floor target of Eur1.2 billion or US$1.54 billion for assets disposal over the 2012-2013 period."
Canberra is based in Connecticut and has 1,050 employees that generated Eur250 million in revenues for 2012. Anonymous sources told Reuters that back in October, Astorg had offered to purchase Canberra for the price between Eur310 million to Eur350 million.
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