Airbus Group has sold 8% of its stake in Dassault Aviation back to the French aircraft maker for around €794m.
The transaction leaves Airbus with 42.1% of Dassault, which plans to cancel 9% of its treasury shares.
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Airbus Group chief strategy and marketing officer Marwan Lahoud said: "This transaction marks an important step in our stated intentions to monetise our stake in Dassault Aviation.
"Furthermore, we have retained market and timing flexibility, together with support from Dassault Aviation, that should allow us to optimise further monetisation steps during 2015."
Airbus plans to sell a further 10% of Dassault’s shares by the end of June 2015 through private placements, with Dassault having the option to buy back 50% of them.
The company in a statement: "Airbus Group will have the ability to increase the size of the placements beyond this 10% of Dassault Aviation’s share capital."
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By GlobalDataThe latest transaction comes after months of negotiations between Airbus, Dassault and the French Government.
Airbus acquired the stake in Dassault from state-owned Aerospatiale and holds it as part of an agreement with the Government of France.
The decision to sell the stake comes due to pressure from the hedge fund investor TCI, which warned that the Dassault stake was a poor use of capital with limited strategic value.
