French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici on Friday announced the sale of 17.6 million shares, or 2.1 percent of its stake in European aerospace and defense group European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co. (EADS)

Following the second sale operation this month, France had raised 707 million euros (920 million U.S. dollars), he added.

With the sale of about 13 million EADS shares for 483 million euros last week through a share buyback, the government has raised a total of 1.19 billion euros.

As a result, French state's voting right in EADS was reduced to 12 percent as agreed under a December accord between key French, German and Spanish stakeholders.

The EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defense and related services. In 2012, the parent company of Airbus, Astrium, Cassidian and Eurocopter generated revenues of 56.5 billion euros and employed a workforce of over 140,000. Endi