Paris-based GDF Suez, Europe's biggest utility company by market value, said that it will retain a minority 20-per cent stake in IP Maestrale and expects the transaction to close during Q1 2013.

The sale will reduce GDF Suez' net debt by €800 million, and along with other completed disposals,  GDF Suez said that it has achieved 70 per cent of its asset optimisation program of €13 billion by the end of 2013.

Formed through the 2008 merger of Gaz de France and Suez, GDF Suez, which is 35-per cent owned by the French government, is the world's second-largest power utility company.

It is also the largest gas supplier in Europe and amongst the world's biggest electricity producers.

It generates electricity from wind, biomass and bio gas, hydro, natural gas, coal, nuclear, and other non-renewable sources, and involves in energy procurement and trading business. It had revenues of €90.7 billion ($120.6 billion) in 2011.