On Monday, the two French energy groups GDF - GAZ DE FRANCE and SUEZ presented the details of their planned merger, changed from the one presented 18 months ago, after the plan initially announced, which first of all intended to oppose the purchase of SUEZ by the Italian ENEL. The new entity, in which the French State will hold a blocking minority of 34%, will be known as GDF SUEZ and the two groups plan to merge “as soon as possible, in the course of 2008”; the CEO will be Gérard Mestrallet, currently the CEO of SUEZ. “With a turnover of 72 billion EUR, GDF SUEZ will be one of the world energy leaders and will be one of the world three largest energy and water services companies quoted on the stock exchange”, according to the press release issued by the two groups. GDF SUEZ will be France's second-largest electricity producer after EDF and the largest gas supply group in Europe. It will also be the world number four in the energy sector in terms of stock exchange value. The French government has acknowledged that the merger will lead to a privatisation of GDF. The new agreement- which has not yet been notified, the European Commission announced on Monday lunchtime- will change the share-trading equivalences from the initial plan and also provides for SUEZ to sell off its water and cleansing activities, the objective being to resolve the problems entailed in valuation of both groups (on Friday, SUEZ was worth more than 54 billion EUR, as against 36 billion for GDF). The new parity has been set at 22 SUEZ shares for 21 GDF shares, or one SUEZ share for 0.9545 of a GDF share (in the initial plans, trade was laid down on the basis of one SUEZ share for one GDF share, adding the payment of a special dividend of one euro to SUEZ shareholders). SUEZ will also give up 60% of its “environment” branch to its shareholders, which will be floated. Valued at nearly 20 billion EUR by the analysts, this sector has already attracted attention from other groups such as VEOLIA ENVIRONNEMENT. More specifically, it will be 48%-held by a shareholder pact between the new entity (35%) and its public shareholders (13%), including the CAISSE DES DEPOTS and the nuclear group AREVA. This pact will be guaranteed for three years.