Michel Bon, head of France Télécom, has confirmed that the French telecoms company is planning to raise as much as €15bn ($13.93 bn) later this year in one of the biggest ever secondary sales in the European new issue market.

He told a news conference in Paris that the company would sell the shares in France Télécom owned by Vodafone which it will buyback from the UK mobile phone operator with the proceeds from its €60bn flotation of Orange.