Airbus is reportedly considering the sale of its 46.3% stake in French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation by the end of next year, which could be worth €4.8bn.
A source familiar with the matter was quoted by Reuters as saying: "The idea is to wrap-up the entire operation by the end of 2015."
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In October, Airbus announced plans to offer 10% of its stake to institutional investors; however, those plans were put on hold due to market fluctuations.
Dassault Aviation, which has a market value of around €10bn, received approval from its shareholders in September to proceed with plans to buy back as much as 10% of its stock.
Airbus acquired stake in Dassault from state-owned Aerospatiale and holds it as part of an agreement with the French Government.
Earlier this year, the company has decided that stake in Dassault was not a strategic shareholding, and negotiated its concerns with the French Government and Dassault.
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By GlobalDataAirbus strategy head Marwan Lahoud was earlier quoted by Bloomberg as saying: "Our preferred route is to place some of the shares on the market and combine that with Dassault buying some of the shares.
"Dassault’s a well-managed company and should be interesting to institutional investors who like corporate jets."
Hedge fund investor TCI had suggested Airbus Group in August last year to sell its stake in Dassault and return the proceeds to its shareholders.
