Gérard Mestrallet is in a good mood. After two-and-a-half years, he has seen off unwelcome interest from Italians, bolshy trades unions and bickering over financial terms to establish France’s second largest listed company, GDF Suez. By the close on Tuesday, its first day of trading, the merged group had a market capitalisation of €92bn, making it Europe’s most valuable utility. To cap it all, Mr Mestrallet, who chaired Suez, retains his role at the combined entity.

Should the group’s new shareholders be smiling too? It is not just in the stock market that GDF Suez assumes a commanding position. In an industry where size matters, it will be Europe’s second biggest producer of electricity, its biggest gas transport and distribution group and a global leader in the liquefied natural gas market. The diversity of its activities gives some credibility to Mr Mestrallet’s target of raising earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation from a pro forma €13bn this year to €17bn by 2010.