France buys 2.85 percent STMicroelectronic stake

PARIS, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The French state has bought a further 2.85 percent stake in French-Italian chipmaker STMicroelectronics (STM.PA) to "maintain the company's independence and stability in its shareholding," President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said.

A statement from the Elysee on Wednesday said the French state had bought the shares in STMicroelectronics from Italian group Finmeccanica (SIFI.MI) in a deal worth around 260 million euros ($385.3 million).

It added that it bought the STMicro shares at around 10 euros a share. STMicro shares closed at 8.39 euros on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by Crispian Balmer)