MHI bids for Westinghouse

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is bidding to buy Westinghouse Electric of the USA and has begun negotiations with the UK-based BNFL which owns Westinghouse. The two sides could reach a deal, estimated at $1.79 billion, later this year. If successful, it would be the first overseas acquisition for the Japanese company heavy machinery manufacturer as it expands its power plant business worldwide, particularly to meet demand in fast-growing, energy-hungry China.

The Tokyo-based MHI is a leader in technologies for light-water reactors, which do not produce significant amounts of weapons-grade plutonium and comprise two-thirds of the world’s operating nuclear reactors. Its first nuclear plants in Japan in the 1960s were based on technology from Westinghouse.