French utility Électricité de France will invest roughly £1.1 billion for a 12.5 per cent stake in the U.K.’s planned Sizewell C nuclear plant, government statements and company announcements showed on Tuesday. The transaction makes EDF the project’s first confirmed private shareholder and comes during President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to Britain. Talks are continuing with additional investors. Canadian group Brookfield Asset Management is close to securing a stake of more than 20 per cent, while British Gas owner Centrica is in advanced discussions over about 15 per cent, according to people familiar with the negotiations. Ministers want to seal the financing package before Parliament breaks for its summer recess on 21 July. London has already pledged £17.8 billion to Sizewell C—after adding £14.2 billion last month—and says it will keep a significant holding to maintain oversight. The 3.2-gigawatt facility, comprising two EPR reactors, is designed to generate electricity for roughly six million homes and support the country’s net-zero and energy-security goals. Sizewell C would be only the second new nuclear station built in Britain in more than two decades, following EDF’s delayed Hinkley Point C. Securing private capital became critical after the government bought out China General Nuclear’s stake in 2022 amid security concerns.