PARIS: The European aerospace group EADS, which owns Airbus, said Tuesday that it has bought 1.61 percent of the group's shares for 500 million euros ($650 million) from the French media group Lagardere, as part of a broader 18-month buyback programme announced earlier this month.

Lagardere said in a separate statement that it had unloaded its entire 7.4 percent stake in EADS, a total of 61 million shares, for 2.28 billion euros, terminating defence activities that had begun with a participation in the Matra group, which was created in 1941.

In early trading on the Paris stock exchange, EADS shares were down by 1.91 percent at 37.97 euros, while the CAC 40 index of leading shares was 0.68 percent higher overall.