German RWE has made a bid of EUR 2.943 billion for the acquisition of 100% of the capital of the fourth largest Spanish utility company, HIDROCANTÁBRICO. The German group thus hopes to counter the bid of EUR 25.8 per share announced by Spanish FERROATLANTICA on Tuesday. We recall that FERROATLANTICA had proposed, in January, in partnership with the German group ENBW, 19 euros per CANTABRICO share. This offer had been followed by a joint proposal from the Portuguese producer EDP and the Spanish savings bank CAJASTUR at 24 euros per share. This week, FERROATLANTICO announced it was putting its bid up to 26 euros, bringing the overall amount proposed to EUR 2.94 billion for 100% of the capital. RWE has recently gone higher, on the principle that the HIDROCANTABRICO management supports the offer. See EI of 1 February.