The share placement was done at 46.30 euros apiece, at the bottom of the range of 46.30-to-market, a 3.6 percent discount from the stock's closing price of 48.04 euros on Thursday, according to traders.

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and Citigroup acted as joint book runners on the deal, traders said.

France will remain a key shareholder of Safran with at least 22.4 percent, Moscovici said in a statement.

Shares of Safran were down 3.5 percent, at 46.38 euros on Friday morning.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson, editing by Geert De Clercq)