TALKS which could determine the future of Britain's biggest power station were continuing yesterday, despite a deadline for an offer for the plant having run out.
Earlier this month Goldman Sachs International offered £130m for a 21 per cent stake in the debt-laden Drax power station, which is run by AES Drax Holdings Ltd, but its offer lapsed on Wednesday.
Drax, near Selby, North Yorkshire, is £1.3bn in debt and is being courted by a number of investors.
A statement said: "AES Drax Holdings Ltd ("Drax") has announced that it is in continuing discussions with Goldman Sachs International in respect of its proposal to participate in Drax's proposed restructuring.
"These discussions are continuing notwithstanding the offer of Goldman Sachs International, which was filed on a Form 6-K on 14 August 2003, having lapsed."
AES had been pushing for an extension to the deadline placed on offers from both Goldman Sachs and International Power.
Goldman Sachs, whose interest in the plant is purely financial, has promised significant benefits for Drax customers and shareholders and said that it believed the long term prospects for the energy sector remained attractive.
International Power, the former National Power unit, has also made an offer to buy a share of the plant's debt and take over its day-to-day running.
Drax is in the hands of PriceWaterhouseCoopers after owners American energy group AES abandoned its debt restructuring plans when creditors failed to agree a deal that would have returned less than half the money it owed. It ran into trouble last year after its biggest customer, electricity supplier TXU Europe, failed to pay a £50m bill and went into administration.
Meanwhile, Anglo-Australian group BHP Billiton, which has offered up to £95m for Drax, yesterday announced a nine per cent rise in full-year earnings.
Shares in Billiton rose 10p to 414p, their highest level for more than four years.
It is expected to use coal it produces from mines in South America and South Africa to fuel Drax if it gains control of the plant.
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