At the opening sale of the French electricity utility EDF (Electricite de France)'s capital shares on Friday, French Finance Minister Thierry Breton announced the issue price for small investors was set at 32 euros per share and 33 euros for institutional investors.

"This is a very big success with people," he said on French radio RTL, adding the operation would raise up to 7.0 billion euros for the group.

More than five million French individuals would be shareholders of EDF, which is to be listed on stock market Monday, said Breton.

He also said the government had decided to reduce the percentage of the total issue reserved for institutional investors from 50 percent to 40 percent, so the part reserved for individuals will increase from 50 percent to 60 percent.

The government has committed itself to opening 15 percent of the group's capital through a capital increase of 7 billion euros and not to allow its holding to fall below 85.0 percent, even though the law permits its sale up to 30 percent.

Under the operation, the state is also making available stock worth about 1.0 billion euros to staff.

The terms of the partial privatization of Europe's number one electricity producer value the group at 55.0 billion euros (64.35 billion dollars), the company said on the same day.

Source: Xinhua