By Inti Landauro 

PARIS -- The board of French state-controlled power utility Électricité de France SA on Friday approved a plan to raise EUR4 billion in new shares to boost its balance sheet ahead of a series of expensive projects.

The company, which is 85% owned by the French government, will raise the amount in a market operation. The government will inject about EUR3 billion in the company, two people close to the matter said Friday.

The decision to pour more cash into EDF shows the management convinced the government that the company needs strengthening to cope with a challenging electricity market in France and carry out the acquisition of a majority stake in beleaguered nuclear reactor maker Areva NP and the construction of nuclear plants in the U.K.

EDF's board also decided to raise EUR10 billion from asset sales by 2020 and capital investment on its existing assets by EUR2 billion over the 2015-2018 period.

Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 22, 2016 15:23 ET (19:23 GMT)