The French government is to sell a further tranche of France Telecom, which will see its stake in the telecoms group fall from 75 per cent to 62 per cent. The price for the share-offering flotation will be fixed on Saturday, November 28th. The move will include a 5 per cent capital increase, the sale of two per cent of capital to Germany's Deutsche Telekom and the share float. Some 51 million shares will be sold on the open market. The sell-off is expected to bring 26 billion francs (£3 billion sterling) into government coffers.

The price of each share is expected to be 10 francs (about 1.8 dollars) less for individual purchasers than for institutional investors. Some 5.7 million shares will be reserved for France Telecom personnel at preferential rates - 80 per cent of the full price.

On Friday, France Telecom announced group turnover figures for the first nine months of the year of 118.36 billion francs (£14.2 billion), a rise of 4.2 percent compared with the same period in 1997.

Analysts said the time was ripe for the new flotation, unlike the situation a month ago when the government delayed the sale because of market instability. The Paris stock market has since recovered more than 20 per cent.

Although France Telecom shares have not recovered their August high of 498.50 francs, at the Friday close of 368.50 francs they are still worth more than double the 182-franc price at which the shares were issued little more than a year ago, when France Telecom was first floated on the stock market.

The government should have no trouble attracting investors to France Telecom, analysts said, as it has a good image and is little exposed in crisis-hit Asia or Russia.

The company has also "efficiently defended itself" in a competitive market since January, after the telecoms market was opened up to competition and France Telecom lost its monopoly, one analyst said.