Spanish energy firm agrees takeover of Scottish Power

Scottish Power agreed to be taken over by Spain’s Iberdrola today in a €17.1bn move to create Europe’s third largest utility company.

The Glasgow-based energy company, which serves 5.2 million UK customers and has substantial generation capacity, became the latest UK company – following Abbey National, O2 and BAA – to agree a takeover with a firm from Spain.

Iberdrola, which is a world leader in wind power, promised business as usual for staff as it currently had no other operations in this country.

However, politicians and unions in Scotland sought further reassurances from the company today that prices would not be affected, and that the workforce would have their skills and contributions valued.