The French investment fund Meridiam SAS has agreed to acquire a stake in the highly geopolitically important ADMIE investment plan for the Greece-Cyprus-Israel cable totaling 1.9 billion euro, reports Bloomberg on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the deal.

As part of the agreement, the French company will acquire 49.9% of the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) joint venture owned by ADMIE, while the Greek Operator will keep 50.1% for the major project of laying the submarine cable in Eastern Mediterranean.

The undersea electricity connection will be one of the largest in the world and paves the way for the integration of Cyprus, the last non-interconnected member of the European Union, into the bloc’s energy transmission system.

Above 1,200 kilometers high voltage cables will be buried at depths of up to 3 kilometers.

Both companies will finance their share of the project, while the deal also allows for the possibility of additional investors in the future, the sources told the agency.

GSI is the implementing body of the major project, and a subsidiary of ADMIE.

As part of the agreement, GSI’s board of directors will initially consist of 11 members, six appointed by ADMIE, and the remaining five by Meridiam,

The construction of the Cyprus-Greece connection via Crete has begun in 2023. In the next phase of the project, Israel will be able to strengthen its security of supply.

The program is included in the EU’s list of projects of common interest, with the bloc having already allocated €657 million. euros for the Cyprus-Crete section.

The representatives of ADMIE and Meridiam refused to comment on the publication.