Alcatel-Lucent and Dassault Aviation have agreed a deal which will see the French aerospace and defence group buying Alcatel-Lucent’s 20% shareholding in European defence giant Thales.
Dassault, perhaps best known for its Rafale fighter, is paying around €1.57bn for the 20.78% stake. It already holds just over 5% of Thales shares.
The significance of the deal is that Thales is an important partner for Dassault in its combat aircraft projects, as a supplier of electronic systems.
Alcatel-Lucent will use the cash generated by the sale to invest in its core telecoms networks business which has been under pressure.
The deal is expected to close in 
spring 2009, subject to regulatory and administrative approvals, of which those relative to antitrust.