Gaz de France (GDF) was a French company which produced, transported and sold natural gas around the world, especially in France, its main market. The company was also particularly active in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other European countries. Through its part-owned Belgian subsidiary SPE it was also involved in nuclear power generation.[3] The company conducted a merger of equals with fellow utility company Suez on 22 July 2008 to form GDF Suez.[4] Its head office was located in the 17th arrondissement of Paris.
History
Gaz de France was created with its sister company Électricité de France (EDF) in 1946 by the French Government. After the liberalisation of Europe’s energy markets, Gaz de France also entered into the electricity sector, having developed combined natural gas-electricity offerings.
With part-privatisation EDF and Gaz de France latterly became two totally separate entities, with each controlling a distribution subsidiary responsible for running its distribution system.