Abstract

Created in 2001 by the French Government to become a champion in nuclear power, Areva and its CEO, Anne Lauvergnon immediately focused on an aggressive internationalization strategy. As Uranium is quite a rare resource and competition to obtain it is fierce, one of the base of that strategy was to acquire mines. Via third parties which will prove later to being in conflict of interest with the deal, the CEO hears about Uramin, a young mining company. This 2 year old "start-up" never extracted Uranium but possesses what seems to be very rich uranium deposit. Moreover Uramin is cheap on the stock market. Not to lose a golden opportunity, Areva rushes, neglecting due diligence and reason, acquires the company. This ends up being a disastrous deal as Uramin was extremely overpriced and the mines were nowhere near the promised quality. 15 years later, Areva is on the verge of disappearing, the French State and the justice are investigating on how this could happen.

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