The fund is to be modeled around an existing French structure, the Fonds Strategique d’Investissment, Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti told a news conference.

Tremonti said the fund would be partly backed by Rome’s Cassa Depositi e Presititi (CDP), a state holding that manages 235 billion euros ($331.9 billion) in savings, and would be open to private investors.

“The CDP is involved in a plan to create a fund open to private investments identical to the French strategic investment fund,” Tremonti told a news conference at the Ambrosetti business forum.

Under an emergency Italian decree drafted to allow Parmalat to mount a defense against a possible takeover by French food giant Lactalis, the CDP is allowed to use postal savings to take direct stakes in domestic companies, a first step toward the creation of the new Italian sovereign fund.

“We will submit to the European Commission a draft law identical to the French one. Or better still, we will submit a text written in French,” Tremonti added.

A cash injection by the CDP in Parmalat would remove the need for an industrial partner such as Granarolo or Ferrero in the domestic consortium that shareholder Intesa Sanpaolo had been trying to form to shield the dairy giant.

“At this point in time (an industrial partner) is not necessary. If it gets the financing, Parmalat can then continue with its industrial plan,” a government source said.

The CDP could also invest in utility Edison, which is at risk of falling entirely into French hands after key investor EDF said it wanted to oust Edison CEO Umberto Quadrino, government sources said on Friday.

France’s Caisse des Depots owns 51 percent of the Fonds Strategique d’Investissment (FSI), a sovereign fund with about 20 billion euros of capital which controls, among others, 10.9 percent of chipmaker STMicroelectronics from nuclear reactor maker Areva.

The French state owns the other 49 percent of the FSI.

Italy’s CDP is not new to taking key stakes in large Italian companies. It controls 26.4 percent of oil and gas giant Eni and 29.9 percent of power grid operator Terna.

In an interview with Il Sole 24 Ore daily on Friday, Emma Marcegaglia, the head of employers’ association Confindustria, said she was concerned about the role the CDP could have.

Parmalat, now nearly 30 percent-owned by Lactalis, delayed on Friday its April shareholder meeting until late June, giving Intesa Sanpaolo more time to keep Lactalis from taking control.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said in an interview with newspaper Corriere della Sera published on Saturday Paris had no plans to meddle with the Parmalat dispute.

“In the case of Parmalat and Lactalis the French government has no plan to intervene on the current operation and with regards to the (Italian) government reaction,” he said.