Ministry of Industry and Energy has offered energy giant Electricite de France (1024251.FR), or EdF, participation in the capital of Inter RAO, the newspaper Vedomosti reported Wednesday.
It cited Industry and Energy deputy minister Andrei Dementiev as saying that EdF could be a strategic partner for Inter RAO, which is an import-export arm of RAO Unified Energy System of Russia (EESR.RS).
Inter RAO Chairman Andrei Rappoport told the paper that EdF would be able to buy a blocking stake in Inter RAO, but no earlier than 2009. He added that it's crucial that the deal is paid by GdF assets, not money.
RAO Unified Energy System owns a 60% stake in Inter RAO and state-owned nuclear power monopoly Rosenergoatom has a 40% stake.