Russia`s Development Bank will buy the entire share issue of electricity import-export firm Inter RAO for 20 billion roubles , taking a stake of more than 25 percent, its head said on Monday. "The whole programme of cooperation with Inter RAO can reach 30 billion roubles, of which 20 is for the purchase of the new share sale. That would give us a blocking stake," Vladimir Dmitriev, the head of the bank, told reporters. The bank is a state-controlled institution which funds infrastructure and other development projects. Inter RAO, which handles international trading of electricity, is 60 percent owned by Russia`s former electricity monopoly Unified Energy System . The rest is owned by state-owned nuclear power monopoly Rosatom. Inter RAO has been in talks with France`s EDF about a possible asset swap that would give the French utility shares in Inter RAO over the course of two years, from the stake now held by Rosatom. [ID:nL04428253] However, Dmitriev said the main strategic partnership of Inter RAO is to be with the Development Bank. The bank`s supervisory board will review the deal next week. Inter RAO`s parent UES is spinning off the power trader as part of a sweeping reform of the sector that will see UES sell all of its assets, for the most part to private investors, in order to introduce a competitive electricity market. The government, however, sees Inter RAO as a strategic asset and will maintain control of the firm after the Soviet-era monopoly is broken up in July. Inter RAO plans to hold an initial public offering in 2009 on both foreign and local exchanges, and has expressed ambitions to acquire European electricity grid and generation assets. The firm already has 5.75 gigawatts of generating capacity installed outside Russia, mainly in Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Kazakhstan. Its total generating capacity is 7 gigawatts. It will spend $14-15 billion to raise that to 30 gigawatts by 2015. (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeev, Writing by Simon Shuster; editing by Rory Channing)