Hewitt lets in the predators

TRADE Secretary Patricia Hewitt cleared the way for predators to buy a stake in National Grid Transco and four other energy groups.

She redeemed the Government's 'special shares' which means no one can buy more than 15% of the companies without Ministerial consent.

These were built in at privatisation, but have looked dodgy since the European Court of Justice ruled last year that they impede free capital movement.

Hewitt waived special rights over Scottish Power, Scottish & Southern Energy and Northern Ireland's Viridian and Phoenix Natural Gas.

She eased her control of nuclear generator British Energy, but kept a special share for security reasons. BE, favoured by speculators as a recovery play, fell 2.19p to 12.11p after another warning from its board that the shares would be worthless without a restructuring.

Optimists say power prices have risen so much that BE should renegotiate better terms for shareholders. Though Hewitt retained powers on BE, she has not ruled out a takeover.