SHANGHAI - A fund run by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group, one of China's two leading nuclear power developers, has signed a deal raising 7 billion yuan ($1.03 billion) for nuclear and other energy projects, the Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

Guangdong Nuclear's fund, the first industrial fund set up by a state-owned enterprise with approval from the State Council, or cabinet, signed the fund-raising agreement with Bank of China (3988.HK) (601988.SS), China Development Bank and other institutions, which will become shareholders in the fund, Xinhua said.

The financing is the first of two phases for the fund, which plans to raise a total of 10 billion yuan, it added.

China, the world's second-largest energy user, has 11 working nuclear power reactors accounting for only 1.3 percent of its total generating capacity, although a top energy official has said it aims to increase that proportion to 5 percent by 2020. ($1=6.832 Yuan) (Reporting by Edmund Klamann; )

China Energy