[THE INVESTOR] Korea Electric Power Corp. has lost its preferred bidder status to buy Toshiba’s US$18 billion NuGen nuclear project in Britain, Korea’s Energy Ministry confirmed on July 31.

“We were recently informed that our preferred bidder status has been lost,” the ministry said in a statement. 

On July 30, Toshiba announced KEPCO no longer had “priority negotiation rights” over the purchase of the NuGen unit, citing repeated delays in signing the deal with the Korean utility firm that was named a preferred bidder for the talks last year.

The Japanese group said it would open the door to alternative buyers but didn’t rule out the possibility of resuming talks with KEPCO.

The Korean government and KEPCO decided to send a negotiation team to London soon.

The project in Moorside, North West England, aims to provide about 7 percent of Britain’s electricity. But the project has been delayed after Toshiba’s nuclear arm Westinghouse went bankrupt last year.

Its French joint venture partner Engie pulled out of the project and Toshiba had been searching for new investors. In December, KEPCO was named a preferred bidder, beating China General Nuclear Power in the final bidding round.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)