ABU DHABI- Abu Dhabi state investor Mubadala Investment Company will invest one billion euros ($1.08 billion) in a new French state-backed fund to support French companies, France's finance minister said on Monday.

State-backed investment bank Bpifrance and Mubadala will both commit one billion euros to the fund which will launch next month, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said. Additional commitments from institutional investors such as insurers will bring the total invested to four billion, he said.

"The first foreign sovereign investment fund to invest in the French fund is Abu Dhabi's," Le Maire told reporters during a visit to Abu Dhabi.

"It's sends a strong signal that Abu Dhabi's fund is investing one billion euros."

Bpifrance has said it aims over time to raise up to 10 billion euros for the fund, which is to be used to shore up the capital of French companies facing activist investor campaigns or adapting their business models or shareholder bases.

Bpifrance's pitch on the fund to outside investors has said it would deploy capital in about 15 companies with a time horizon of 10 years.

Mubadala said in a statement that it saw "significant investment opportunities" in France and said that the fund would invest in companies with "compelling returns".

($1 = 0.9223 euros)

(Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi, writing by Leigh Thomas; editing by David Evans and Jane Merriman) ((leigh.thomas@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 4949 5143;))