French Finance Minister Edouard Balladur gave the...

French Finance Minister Edouard Balladur gave the green light to the sale of the state’s 51% stake in French arms and electronics giant Matra, ending a three-month delay in the privatization of the company. The privatization, which had been scheduled for October, had been temporarily halted because of the worldwide collapse in stock prices. Some 3.5 million shares are to be offered in the privatization, bringing in slightly more than $880.3 million (5 billion francs) at the current share price.