The French government announced on Tuesday how it intends to bring energy giant Électricité de France (EdF) back under full state control.

A simplified public purchase offer is to be made to the private shareholders – they currently hold 15.9 percent of the capital shares, the remaining 84.1 percent are already in state hands.

A nationalization law à la François Mitterrand, who nationalized dozens of companies as president almost 40 years ago, is not planned.

Niklas Zaboji

Economic correspondent in Paris

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The government is promising private shareholders, including individual shareholders, institutional investors and corporate employees, 12 euros per share.

That would be 53 percent more than the closing price on July 5, a day before the Prime Minister announced full nationalization, and would be almost a third above the average stock price for the past twelve months.

However, one would be a long way from the starting course for the partial privatization in 2005.

At that time there was the EdF share for 32 euros.

According to the French Ministry of Economic Affairs, the planned offer is fair and reflects the fundamental value of the company.

The EdF share was in demand on the stock exchange on Tuesday.

Its price was up almost 15 percent and converged towards EUR 12 after trading in the paper had been suspended for the past four trading days.

Now the ball is in the French Parliament

The French government estimates the cost of acquiring the privately held EdF shares at 7.6 billion euros.

In addition, there are 2.1 billion euros for the acquisition of the majority of the EdF convertible bonds on the market, so all in all 9.7 billion euros in total costs.

The ball is now in the hands of the French parliament, which must approve the budget, and the French financial market regulator, which must examine the purchase offer.

If both sides give the go-ahead, full nationalization should begin in September and be completed in October.

After that, the company will be taken off the stock exchange.

According to the French Ministry of Economic Affairs, the project enjoys top priority.

There it is not assumed that the threats of legal action by EdF employee shareholders, which became known on Monday, will torpedo the schedule.

A veto from Brussels is also not expected in Paris.

It is not considered necessary to have the full nationalization of EdF approved by the EU Commission.

According to Finance and Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire, bringing the group, which was founded in 1946 and its almost 170,000 employees, back under full state control strengthens “France's independence in terms of energy policy”.

EdF, which takes care of the generation, transport and sale of electricity and gas, will thus receive the necessary funds to accelerate the announced construction of new nuclear reactors and the expansion of renewable energies.

The energy supply is a "task of national interest".