UPDATE 1-Canada's industry minister approves BCE buyout

(Adds details, comments, stock price)

TORONTO, April 9 (Reuters) - The C$34.8 billion ($34.1 billion) takeover of BCE Inc (BCE.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) has received the backing of Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice, bringing the world's biggest leveraged buyout one step closer to closing.

BCE, Canada's biggest telecom company, said on Wednesday the approval was subject to certain conditions.

In a letter posted on Industry Canada's Web site, Prentice said the conditions relate to "receipt and approval of the final and executed copies of the ownership and control documentation."

Prentice told reporters in Ottawa he was satisfied the control of the privatized company will remain in the hands of Canadians and that "there will be a majority of directors who are Canadian."

The deal is slated to close before the end of the second quarter, but BCE's shares have consistently traded below the C$42.75 price offered by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and U.S.-based Providence Equity Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity.

Investors have remained concerned that financing for the deal could fall apart, given tight conditions in world credit markets, and that the deal could be repriced, delayed or scrapped altogether.

BCE stock was up 45 Canadian cents at C$36.44, on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

($1=$1.02 Canadian) (Reporting by Wojtek Dabrowski and Louise Egan; editing by Rob Wilson)