PARIS--The French government said Wednesday it sold a 3.1% stake
in energy group GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR) for about 1.5 billion euros
($4.2 billion), which will help finance the acquisition of a stake
in Alstom SA (ALO.FR).
The sale comes as the French government plans to acquire a 20%
stake in French power and transport engineering group Alstom to
gain more control over the company's strategy, which is to merge
its energy business with that of General Electric Co. (GE).
The government said on Tuesday it would sell a 3.1% stake in
utility GDF Suez, with an option to sell as much as 3.6%.
Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg said at the weekend that the
government could pay for the stake with the proceeds from the sales
of holdings in such companies as Aeroports de Paris (ADP.FR),
Airbus Group NV (AIR.FR) and Safran SA (SAF.FR), but didn't
mentioned GDF Suez.
The government will still holds 33.6% in GDF Suez.
Write to Ruth Bender at ruth.bender@wsj.com
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