German automaker Daimler said Wednesday it pocketed 2.2 billion euros ($2.9 billion) from the sale of its remaining 7.5 percent stake in the European aerospace and defence group EADS.

"Daimler received gross proceeds of about 2.2 billion euros from the offering and, following the offering, does not hold any residual shares in EADS," the group said in a statement.

Shares in the group soared by more than 4 percent in morning trades on the Paris stock exchange.

As announced the day before, Daimler put up 61.1 million EADS shares for sale at 37 euros apiece.

EADS itself bought 16 million of the shares, worth 600 million euros.

"Demand from institutional investors was strong," Daimler said.

"We have concluded a very successful transaction, enabling us to fully participate in the positive development of the EADS share price," said Daimler's financial chief Bodo Uebber.

"The proceeds from this sale are contributing positively to our free cash flow this year and in addition to the earnings from our ongoing businesses, will also support our policy of stable dividends," Uebber said.

Daimler was a founding member of EADS, but has decided to sell its stake as part of a broader overhaul of EADS's shareholder structure, and a desire to focus on the automaker's core activities.

It had already sold a stake of 7.5 percent in December for 1.66 billion euros.

AFP