At least three investors in Suez have joined the campaign led by US activist investor Knight Vinke Asset Management to block or improve the plan by the French government to merge the Franco-Belgian utility with Gaz de France.

Gartmore, a UK fund manager, US fund group Franklin Mutual and London-based hedge fund Leonardo Capital, are understood to support Knight Vinke's campaign. The French association of minority shareholders, Adam, is also pushing for Suez shareholders to receive a better deal. A fund manager at Leonardo Capital said: "We are behind Knight Vinke because there is a feeling that we need to take the politics out of this deal and put the economics back, especially as the government is being rather bullying in its approach." Pierre Castella, European investment analyst at Gartmore, which owns about four million Suez shares, said: "We share Knight Vinke's view that this is the wrong deal for Suez shareholders and are behind the fact that it is rallying an opposing camp to bring out the financial arguments. We are not convinced this merger will go ahead." Knight Vinke has asked the French government to give it a parliamentary audience to put forward its alternative plan. The request, in a letter to Dominique de Villepin, the French prime minister, comes as a growing number of shareholders back the US group's proposal for an alternative to a break-up of Suez and takeover by Gaz de France. A source in the French government said the request from Knight Vinke had little chance of being accepted by de Villepin. Knight Vinke's latest letter is its third to the French parliament as it seeks to influence the debate on the merger.
Knight Vinke's proposals received little support from French politicians who said the plans would burden Gaz de France with debts of €14bn ($17.7bn).