Mr Josefsson made the announcement at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, after recent speculation had linked Vattenfall with a bid for SSE.

Maybe in ten years, Mr Josefsson is reported as saying, although he confirmed that expansion in the UK remained on the firm’s agenda. Some analysts had already questioned whether Vattenfall had the capital necessary to buy SSE, while ScottishPower has been seen as a more likely target for German heavyweight E.ON, which had an initial bid rebuffed last year.