Julian Moxon/PARIS
Attempts by France to prevent a possible merger of British Aerospace and Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) without including Aerospatiale have been undermined by Dasa president Manfred Bischoff.
In an interview with the French newspaper Les Echos on 22 October the Dasa boss refused to rule out the possibility of the German and UK companies merging. "We cannot exclude an initial two-company merger while the [French] national restructuring processes now under way are still going on. In France's case, this naturally means privatisation," says Bischoff, adding that the European restructuring process "must go forward rapidly-the conditions of a grand European merger are dictated by the time factor".
Bischoff says France must clearly be involved in the eventual European aerospace, defence and space company, an early merger of BAe and DASA would "-win vital time and accelerate considerably the process of European integration", he says.
He lists six major principles for a European aerospace company:
nthe merger should be privately financed and the resulting entity "must be a source of significant profits" for all of its members; it must be multilateral from the beginning, with an open door to all potential partners; long-term government participation in the share capital should be excluded; national sovereignty interests should be taken into account through specialised national entities, although "profitability must remain the first commandment"; the entity should exclude "categorically" any national pretensions to dominate it; it should be aimed towards a better approach to the market, "above all with the USA".France believes that any merger must be accomplished in a single three-way merger involving French industry. Its Prime Minister Lionel Jospin recently gave voice to the view from Paris, saying the desire to create a unified European aerospace industry "-had always been based on a necessary equilibrium between the three main companies".
In further moves to placate its publicly quoted erstwhile partners, Aerospatiale president Yves Michot has confirmed that the French Government is prepared to see its stake in the company reduce "naturally" to 15% if it merges with BAe and Dasa.
Under current plans, the French Government will hold a "golden share" of around 45% of the merged Aerospatiale-Lagardère, but this would be reduced through the involvement of other shareholders, says Michot.
This may not be enough to satisfy Germany and the UK, which have called for total privatisation of Aerospatiale before a full integration of the three can happen.
Source: Flight International