| The governments of Germany and France have not heard anything about the upcoming merger of EADS and Thales The virus of mergers and acquisitions that has engulfed large Western concerns seems to have reached the European defense industry. Yesterday the first rumors appeared on this matter. Their source was the Hamburg weekly Stern. According to the publication, he learned from government circles in Germany and France that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac agreed on an impressive project last week in Berlin. During its implementation, the aerospace concern EADS should become the owner of part of the assets of the Thales concern, partly owned by the French state. The size of the stake that EADS is supposed to buy is not reported. However, if this mega-deal goes through, one of the world's largest arms conglomerates with an annual turnover of 45 billion euros will appear on the global economic map.
Regarding official confirmation of a possible deal between EADS and Thales, some discrepancies arose yesterday in Germany and France. Stern himself claims: “government circles” confirmed to the magazine that Merkel and Chirac had reached a compromise on the deal. Moreover, the deal will be completed “by the fall.” but the German federal government, through the mouth of press secretary Thomas Steg, considered it necessary to place its emphasis on the military-industrial sensation. Steg diplomatically “could not confirm” Stern’s report that Merkel and Chirac had allegedly agreed to buy and sell Thales shares. They say that big politics will not exert its pressure.
“In the matter of a possible alliance between EADS and Thales, the fundamental rule is that the right to make decisions in this regard remains with the relevant authorities of these companies themselves. Politics does not set the tone for the decisions being prepared,” said a spokesman for the German government. For greater persuasiveness Steg also emphasized that he supposedly assumes that both companies will inform the government “in a timely manner” about such a deal. So far, neither he nor the government knows anything about EADS’ request.
At the same time, EADS top manager Noel Forgeard yesterday confirmed his interest in participating in Thales capital: “This rapprochement makes concrete sense.”
It is known, however, and not only by the governments of both countries, that in recent months Paris and Berlin have been, to put it diplomatically, engaged in a lively exchange of views regarding the future of the EADS, Thales concerns, as well as other companies in the military-industrial industry. But contradictions arise between the growing global trend of consolidation of large concerns and national interests that often do not coincide with this. This is clearly visible in the examples of EADS and Thales. 29.89% of EADS shares are owned by the French government and the DaimlerChrysler automobile corporation, and about 5.5% by Spain. Almost 35% are on the market. It has always been believed that due to the presence of the arms sector in EADS, no important decisions are made there without the participation of the government. In addition to civilian aircraft, EADS produces the Eurofighter military fighter aircraft, military transport vehicles, helicopters and military electronics. In the event of a merger with French military electronics specialist Thales, EADS's arms sector will receive a significant boost.
Thales Corporation is 31.3% owned by the French government, as well as private Alcatel (9.5%) and Dassault Aviation (5.7%). A small block of shares is controlled by the corporation itself, and almost 51% is owned by private investors, including the workforce. EADS is a Franco-German group, one of the main participants in the European aerospace technology market. EADS and Thales joined the developers of the European Galileo satellite navigation system in January. Yuri Shpakov, Berlin |
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