UPDATE 1-Spanish court demands EDF clarify Iberdrola plans

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By Carlos Ruano

MADRID, March 26 (Reuters) - A Spanish court has demanded EDF (EDF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) clarify its intentions towards Iberdrola (IBE.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) after weeks of newspaper reports that the French utility is planning to bid for its Spanish rival.

In a ruling dated March 25 and seen by Reuters on Wednesday, the mercantile court of Bilbao said EDF should declare if it has started to buy, or plans to buy Iberdrola shares or securities convertible into stock.

The court also asked EDF if any eventual takeover would be carried out alone or with a third party and whether it intended to break up Iberdrola, Spain's largest utility with a market capitalisation of 52.4 billion euros ($82.45 billion).

Several newspapers have reported that EDF has been in talks with Iberdrola's main shareholder ACS (ACS.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) about bidding for the company and breaking it up between them.

ACS, which controls 13 percent of Iberdrola, has said it has talked to EDF about its interest in the power group but had come to no agreement. ACS also owns 45 percent of smaller utility Union Fenosa (UNF.MC: Quote, Profile, Research).

EDF has openly expressed its interest in entering the Spanish market, and both Spain's prime minister and industry minister have said they would welcome the French power company but without specifying in what guise.

Since reports of a possible EDF-ACS bid surfaced in January, Iberdrola Chairman Ignacio Sanchez Galan has taken various pre-emptive steps against them, including asking the Spanish market regulator to limit ACS's control in Iberdrola.