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THE French walked off with the UK's fleet of nuclear power stations last autumn in an uncontested £12 billion raid, but EdF's attempt at a similar coup in the US may be unravelling.
At the same time as state-owned Electricité de France was acquiring British Energy in the UK, the French signed a deal to acquire half of American nuclear group Constellation Energy for $4.5 billion (£2.7 billion).
However, in the land in which foreigners are not free to make corporate raids, regulators in Maryland are cutting up rough. They do not oversee Constellation but they regulate its Baltimore Gas and Electric subsidiary, and EdF's ownership has now come under "public interest" scrutiny.
Constellation has been rebuffed in the courts in its attempt to stop the regulator as it believes its interference overrides an agreement the company made with the state in return for what it claims will be $2 billion of benefits for Baltimore Gas and Electric customers.
Governor Martin O'Malley is now claiming utility customers must be adequately protected in the deal.
