Vattenfall Agrees To Shareholders Bond Demands

Vattenfall, Sweden's largest electricity company, agreed to investors' demands that its management meet them in person before the utility sells bonds.

The company delayed a sale of as much as 300 million British pounds ($443 million) of debt, deciding to hold meetings with investors to generate more demand, its underwriters said. The sale, which was originally planned for as early as June 14, will follow later in the year, said a banker at Barclays Capital, which is managing the sale with Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.

“Investors have an absolute right to sit down with the company and ask some questions -- we can't rely on research from a broker and the annual reports,” said Paul Davey, who helps manage $750 million at Edinburgh Fund Managers. He did not submit an order for the bonds because the company didn't hold presentations.

Many European utilities are refinancing the more than $75 billion in acquisitions made in 2001, including Vattenfall's $1.6 billion purchase of a stake in Bewag AG, Berlin's biggest utility.

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