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EADS pressed to sever French link

01 March 2004

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EADS, the European aerospace and defence group, is under pressure from Wall Street investors to dilute or scrap stakes held by the French government and its other two main shareholders. Both German-US Daimler Chrysler (DC) and French media group Lagardère have been urged by US investors keen to buy into the majority-owner of Airbus to press Paris for a synchronised sell-down. At the moment the French state shares equally a 30.13% stake with Lagardère while DC holds a 33% share. Arnaud Lagardère the heir of the Lagardère group has indicated that he wants eventually to sell his EADS stake and focus on media business. The French state has long hold the view that aerospace and defence businesses are "strategic" interests. But EADS co-chairman Manfred Bischoff warned in Defense News against turning EADS into a purely French player. With the European defence market worth $180bn compared with the $400 bn-plus American market, EADS is keen to take more US military business.

Guardian 29.3.04 (David Gow)

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