Ian Sheppard/PARIS
Further details have emerged of the French defence electronics restructuring, with Dassault Electronique confirming that it expects to become a fully owned subsidiary of Thomson-CSF. Board approvals for the move are expected to be made by the end of next month.
Dassault Electronique general secretary François Pontet says that the business will retain its present structure within the new grouping, although he concedes that it will have to report more actively to Thomson-CSF than it has to its current parent, the family controlled Dassault Industries holding company.
Dassault Industries and Alcatel, which is contributing its defence communications business to the new grouping, are expected to emerge with a 25% holding in the enlarged Thomson-CSF, while the stake held by the French Government could drop to as little as 35%, says Pontet.
He adds that the two privately owned companies are nevertheless expected to win control of the business in what the Dassault Electronique executive describes as a "socialist solution" to the issue of Thomson-CSF privatisation.
Alcatel is also expected to control the new space business, which has been created with the addition of Aerospatiale's satellite operation, with a 51% share.
A Dassault Electronique board meeting is due to be held on 21 April to approve the proposed shareholding in the new company, although full details of the new structure are not due to be unveiled until the middle of the year.
Dassault Electronique itself hopes to emerge as a focus for electronic warfare, airborne radar and missile seeker technology within the new grouping.
Pontet suggests that Thomson-CSF was already preparing for a possible merger as early as 1993 when it sited its new radar and countermeasures centre next to Dassault Electronique's.
Source: Flight International