EDF may make renewed offer for Constellation

Electricite de France SA, the world's biggest operator of nuclear reactors, may make a new takeover offer for Constellation Energy Group Inc with potential partners including buyout firm KKR & Co.

Constellation last month rejected a $6.2 billion bid involving EDF and agreed to be bought by Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co for $4.7 billion. EDF has a 9.5 percent stake in Constellation and is the largest shareholder.

EDF plans to win licenses to operate new-generation US reactors through an alliance with Constellation, the Baltimore-based power company that owns nuclear generators in Maryland and New York state. Falling stock markets and tightening credit are unlikely to prevent EDF's effort, EDF Chief Executive Officer Pierre Gadonneix said in an interview."We are in talks with a number of industrial and financial partners, in particular KKR," Gadonneix said on Wednesday at his office in Paris. "Among the partners, some are proposing a counter offer, but this isn't the only scenario."EDF, which operates 58 reactors in France that generate 77 percent of the country's power, is targeting four nations for nuclear energy investment. "I want a partnership in the US and I won't rule out any option," Gadonneix said. "I think in the US you have to have an American partner. It's not the law that says this, it's my conviction."