TIMELINE: Danone's first capital increase in 22 years

(Reuters) - Danone (DANO.PA) on Tuesday raised 3.05 billion euros ($4.23 billion) in its first capital increase in 22 years, as the French food group aims to cut debt and buy smaller rivals hurt by the financial crisis.

Here is a summary of events at Danone in the last year:

July 2008 - Says it plans to go more downmarket as a slowdown in consumer spending hits the world's second-biggest yoghurt-loving nation. The maker of Actimel and Danacol yoghurts launches new "Ecopacks" in October aimed at cost-conscious shoppers in France as its posts slower sales growth in the second quarter.

-- In France, the price of yoghurts is often pointed to by consumer rights protection groups and other lobbyists to complain about eroding purchasing power, a top political issue in the country.

October - Agrees to sell its Frucor fruit juice unit to Japan's Suntory for more than 600 million euros ($771 million) as it focuses on its waters division and cuts debt. The group's debt rose to 11 billion euros after the purchase of Dutch baby food group Numico for 12.3 billion euros a year earlier.

April 2009 - Sticks to its 2009 earnings growth targets after demand for its baby food and medical nutrition products help lift first-quarter like-for-like sales by 1 percent. The company's dairy business, which contributes 58 percent of group revenue, sees like-for-like sales dip 1.2 percent but volume and sales growth at its blockbuster brands, which include Actimel yoghurt drinks, outperform the overall division.

June - Raises 3.05 billion euros ($4.23 billion) in its first capital increase in 22 years as it aims to cut debt and buy smaller rivals. It sold 123.2 million new shares for 24.73 euros each -- representing a 31 percent discount to the stock's closing price a day before the rights issue was announced on May 29 -- in an offer that was 182 percent oversubscribed.

(Writing by Carl Bagh, Editorial Reference Unit, Bangalore; Editing by David Cutler and Erica Billingham)