Siemens 'received $2.35 bn' for Areva NP stake

AFP/DDP/File – Siemens has received 1.62 billion euros ($2.35 billion) for the sale of its 34-percent stake in its joint …
BERLIN (AFP) – Siemens has received 1.62 bi

llion euros ($2.35 billion) for the sale of its 34-percent stake in its joint venture with French group Areva, a spokesman for the German industrial giant said on Sunday.

"Areva has paid out the 1.62 billion, that's correct," Alexander Becker told AFP, confirming an earlier report set to appear in the Die Welt daily Monday.

The sum corresponds to the amount established by an independent expert chosen by the two firms for Siemens' share in the Areva NP company.

Nevertheless, the final amount is still subject to a legal battle and could change, added Becker.

"A legal procedure will come to a decision on whether the price is confirmed or goes up or down by 40 percent," Becker said. This could value the deal at anywhere between 972 million euros and 2.27 billion euros.

Siemens has already said it expects the sale to make a significant positive contribution to profit in the second quarter of its fiscal year 2011.

The German group is exercising a put option on its holding after the French government, which is the majority shareholder, rebuffed an attempt to take a direct stake in Areva.

Siemens has since turned towards Russia, and is in talks on the creation of a joint venture with Rosatom, the state-owned nuclear energy agency.

However, after the nuclear crisis in Japan, Siemens is thought to be reconsidering its nuclear strategy.