FRANCE: AEROSPATIALE GROUP TO BE PRIVATISED скачать в хорошем качестве

FRANCE: AEROSPATIALE GROUP TO BE PRIVATISED

(23 Jul 1998) Eng/French/Nat European leaders and experts in the aerospace industry have welcomed the news that France is privatising its Aerospatiale group, the largest aerospace group in the country. The French government is selling off its stake in the company - which will then merge with France's Lagardere Group to form the fourth largest defence company in the world. The move is a step towards creating a European defence giant potentially capable of taking on U-S rivals Lockheed and Boeing. Germany, Britain and the United States have already privatised and restructured their aerospace sectors, now it is France's turn. In a move welcomed by Germany and the financial markets, the French government has announced plans to cut its stake in Aerospatiale to less than half by merging the company with France's Lagardere Group. The privatisation, aimed at restructuring Airbus and Europe's defence industry, is a major step towards matching the capacity of the American aerospace giants, where large regroupings have already taken place. The deal followed intensive negotiations between the three parties involved. SOUNDBITE: (French) "We did not have formal detailed consultations with either British Aerospace or our other partners on this merger because this merger is first and foremost an agreement between Aerospatiale, ourselves and the government. So, as I'm sure you understand, we have been very careful and discrete." SUPER CAPTION:Philippe Camus, Chief of Matra Hautes technologies The price in terms of jobs was unclear for the new giant, with a combined work force of 56-thousand people. But experts believe that it is crucial for Europe to develop a serious competitor to the U-S groups that dominate the world aerospace-defence market. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Well, the final aim in Europe, the big dream, the big goal is to have one large European aerospace defence leader, one big company which is capable of taking on the US giants. And that has not happened because of the French state ownership issue. As that begins to unravel, hopefully we will have a really big, fifty billion dollars a year company which is actually capable of rivalling the US." SUPER CAPTION: Kevin O' Toole, Business Editor, Flight International The new Aerospatiale will rank fourth worldwide after U-S companies -- Boeing Co.. Lockheed Martin Corp., and Raytheon Co. -- born out of successive defence mergers in the 1990s. The governments of France, Germany, Spain and Britain have long been pushing for the creation of a unified European civil and military aerospace company to compete with U-S rivals - especially Boeing, which merged with McDonnell Douglas last year. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...