/world business
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Centrica says it would pay $820 million for a controlling stake in Belgium's SPE from Gaz de France (GDF).
Britain's largest energy supplier said Wednesday it would pay GDF in cash for its 25.5 percent stake, bringing Centrica's holding in Belgium's second-largest electricity company to 51 percent and valuing SPE at just over $1.59 billion.
The rest of SPE is owned by Belgian banks and local government.
GDF, controlled by the French government, had to sell off the business in order to win European Union antitrust approval to combine with Suez and form one of the world's largest energy companies.
SPE is the only major rival to Suez' Belgian electricity unit Electrabel, SA with just 20 percent of the power market.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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