France Telecom shares priced

THE FRENCH government yesterday said it would raise 36.8bn French francs (pounds 3.9bn) from the sale of France Telecom shares to private investors in Europe's biggest public offering of the year.

Nearly 3m people have signed up for the shares, to be offered at 390 francs each, in the hope of seeing a repeat of the gains that followed France Telecom's pounds 4.3bn initial public offering in October last year.