Centrica confirmed its intention to buy a stake in British Energy yesterday as it announced it would be raising £2.2 billion to pay for part ownership of the UK's largest energy generator.

The move is a key step towards securing a power-sharing arrangement with EDF once the French company has completed its expected takeover of British Energy, which has eight nuclear power stations in the UK.

Roger Carr, the chairman of British Gas owner Centrica, said the £2.2 billion rights issue would leave the company well-placed to fund the potential acquisition of the quarter stake in British Energy, one of the West's major employers.

British Energy employs about 6,000 staff in the UK, 2,000 at its English headquarters in Gloucester and several hundred at Hinkley Point in Somerset, and produces about a sixth of the UK's electricity.

Centrica remains in discussions with EDF about the proposed deal, which is likely to value the 25 per cent stake in British Energy at around £3.1 billion.

Centrica said the potential tie-up with EDF would make a significant contribution towards reducing the company's exposure to short-term fluctuations on the energy markets.

Centrica, like many UK energy suppliers, often has to buy in from generators in Europe, particularly France and Germany, because the country is no longer energy self-sufficient following the depletion of North Sea oil and gas reserves and the running down of the UK's coal fields.

Meanwhile, EDF is understood to be confident that the European Commission will give the green light to its proposed £12.4 billion takeover of British Energy without insisting on a lengthy inquiry, which could last until next spring.

However, EDF is understood to be ready to offer to sell British Energy's sole coal-fired power station in Yorkshire in order to reassure industry watchdogs that it does not have an unfair stranglehold on Britain's electricity markets.

Centrica's rights issue is the latest installment in a long-running saga to determine the future of British Energy, after the Government announced in March that it wants to sell its 36 per cent stake in the company.

EDF and British Energy finally agreed a price tag of £12.4 billion after earlier offers were rejected by the UK company's major institutional shareholders.

Over the previous six months, a cast of Europe's major energy companies – including Germany's RWE and Iberdrola of Spain, and French supplier Suez – took a look at British Energy's books then declined to meet British Energy's asking price in informal talks.

Earlier this month, British Energy said it produced 26 per cent less power in the first half of 2008 than the year before because of on-going maintenance programmes at two of its eight nuclear facilities at Hartlepool and Heysham in the North of England.