Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall said on 12 November it was not planning to sell its electricity network in Sweden, partly to raise funds for investments in British nuclear power plants as suggested in a media report. “No such decision has been taken either by the group management or the board,” Vattenfall said in a statement. Broadcaster TV4 earlier quoted a Vattenfall document suggesting that the sale of the grid would generate 50 billion kronor ($7.3 billion).
Vattenfall board chairman Lars Westerberg told Swedish radio news that the board had discussed the matter “and we concluded that we would not take a decision. “Companies like Vattenfall “consider different options all the time,” he added. In Germany where Vattenfall also has operations, the group is in talks to sell its high-voltage transmission grid. Tomas Eneroth, energy spokesman for Sweden’s opposition Social Democrats, was critical of the reported plans, saying the grid was of national interest. The TV4 report reportedly generated discussion in the top echelons of the group but Vattenfall insisted there was no connection to the announcement on 11 November  that Hans von Uthmann, head of Vattenfall’s Nordic business group, was to leave the group at the end of the year.