State's stake abt 40 pct in any merged GDF-Suez-union
PARIS, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The French state would have about a 40 percent stake in the company that would be formed if a merger between utility firms Suez (LYOE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Gaz de France GAZ.PA goes ahead, a trade union source said on Saturday.
"The President indicated that the state would have something like 40 percent," a CGT trade union official told Reuters after a representative of his union met President Nicolas Sarkozy at his Lanterne lodge near the palace of Versailles.
GDF and Suez are trying to reach a deal on the delayed 90-billion-euro ($122.9 billion) merger which was brokered by the previous previous conservative government at the start of 2006 to fend off a feared takeover bid for Suez by Italy's Enel (ENEI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
The law says the French state's stake in any merged company cannot go below roughly 34 percent.
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