PARIS, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The strategic investment fund to be set up by the French government to protect key domestic industries will dispose of around 20 billion euros ($25.25 billion), business daily Les Echos said on Wednesday.
President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to unveil the fund, announced last month under measures to bolster French industry, on a visit to an aerospace supplier near Paris on Thursday.
Sarkozy, a long-standing advocate of government intervention to support domestic industry where necessary, said in October the fund would allow the state to protect companies weakened by the financial crisis from foreign "predators."
It would also enable help to be given to innovative smaller companies struggling to raise finance in the middle of a global credit crunch.
Without citing its sources, Les Echos said the fund would have 20 billion euros to use and will be managed by the publicly owned savings and development bank, Caisse des Depots et Consignations.
The fund will hold a one-third stake in the Chantiers d'Atlantique shipyard in western France that the government took over this month. (Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by James Dalgleish)