Areva increases bid for REpower, owns over 30 pct

PARIS, March 15 (Reuters) French nuclear reactor maker Areva raised its offer for REpower to 140 euros a share on Thursday after acquiring more than 30 percent of the German wind-turbine maker, which is also the target of a rival Indian takeover bid.

''Areva announced today that it has agreed to acquire additional shares of REpower Systems AG for a purchase price of 140 euros per REpower share,'' the state-owned French company said in a statement.

The bid represents a 6.3 percent premium to REpower's latest closing share price and values the German company at 1.14 billion euros, based on Reuters share data.

Areva's move comes after REpower recommended an offer worth 126 euros a share from India's Suzlon, the world's fifth-largest wind turbine maker, which had in turn trumped a previous offer from Areva worth 105 euros.

Areva was already the largest shareholder in REpower with a stake of just under 30 percent, the threshold for a compulsory bid to all shareholders.

Wind-power firms are attracting speculative interest on the back of fast-growing CO2-free energy technologies.

Areva said it would offer to all shareholders the same price at which it had bought its latest shares. The offer is in cash.

''As a consequence of this purchase, Areva will own 2,435,445 shares of REpower, representing slightly above 30 percent of the company's share capital,'' the French company said.

''As a legal consequence of this purchase, the price offered by Areva in its public offer to all shareholders of REpower published on February 5th 2007 has increased to 140 euros per REpower share.'' Suzlon last month teamed up with Martifer, a unit of Portugal's largest builder Mota Engil, to launch a bid for REpower. Martifer owns more than 25 percent of REpower.

REUTERS KR HS1809