France Telecom sells yellow pages

France Telecom SA plans to raise as much as €1.79 billion by selling a stake in its yellow pages unit in the biggest French initial public offering since 2002.

The phone company, France’s biggest, is selling shares of Pages Jaunes at €13.2 to €15.2, giving the directories unit a market value of as much as €4.16bn, Paris-based France Telecom said. It will sell at least 30% of the unit and may extend the offer to as much as 43%. Investors can order the stock until July 6.

France Telecom chief executive Thierry Breton is cutting debt and focusing on high-speed internet and wireless services to make up for limited growth prospects in traditional phone services.