U.K. Government Hires UBS to Advise on New Nuclear Plants

The U.K. government hired UBS AG, Europe's biggest bank by assets, to advise on a program for building nuclear plants in Britain after earlier this year giving the go-ahead for a new generation of atomic units.

``UBS has been appointed to advise the government on commercial and financial aspects of the strong and growing interest in nuclear,'' the London-based Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said today in an e-mailed statement.

UBS is ``not touting'' the government's 35.2 percent stake in British Energy Group Plc, the country's biggest power producer, the government said.

The Financial Times earlier today reported that the government hired the Zurich-based bank to gauge the interest among European power producers including Electricite de France SA and E.ON AG in buying part of the state's holding. The full stake may be valued at about 2 billion pounds ($4 billion), the newspaper said.

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(Source: Bloomberg)