Britain says will press ahead with Urenco stake sale

Britain on Monday said it would proceed with the sale of some or all of its one-third stake in British-based uranium enrichment specialist Urenco.

The British government said in a statement that it had made the decision after securing agreement from Urenco's Dutch and German partners.

Britain, Germany and the Netherlands each hold one-third stakes in the nuclear fuel supplies group.

"Urenco is a world leading, high technology company with strong earnings and the time is right for government to sell its stake," British Business and Energy Minister Michael Fallon said in the statement.

"It makes good commercial sense now and is consistent with our position that assets should be sold where ownership itself does not deliver any policy objective."

Back in January, the government had already stated that it was exploring a possible sale.