LOCOG Adds French Energy Company EDF As Top-Tier Sponsor

LOCOG has signed French energy company EDF as its second Tier One sponsor "in a deal believed to be worth" US$101.6M, according to Andrew Culf of the Manchester GUARDIAN.  EDF will also "help in the quest for a greener Games," encouraging its 4.5 million U.K. customers "to cut carbon footprints by 15% by 2012."  EDF joins Lloyds TSB as top-tier partners, and LOCOG CEO Paul Deighton said that "five or six ... were likely to be in place by next summer" (Manchester GUARDIAN, 7/12).  The deal gives EDF, which was the first company to sign up as a premier partner for the London bid in '04, exclusive marketing rights in the utility services sector, as well as access and marketing rights to the U.K. teams for the 2008 Beijing and 2010 Vancouver Olympics.  EDF is also a sponsor of the French Olympic Committee and a patron of the Int'l Paralympic Committee (NEWS.BBC.co.uk, 7/12).