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Lagardere rules out quick exit from EADS

26 Jan 2012 22:32

Source: reuters // Reuters

* Next chairman says stake sale not on agenda

* Airbus chief Enders confirmed as next group CEO

* Ex-central banker Trichet nominated to board

* Mainly trouble-free handover after past quarrels (Recasts after Lagardere newspaper interview)

By Tim Hepher and Christian Plumb

PARIS, Jan 26 (Reuters) - France's Arnaud Lagardere eased near-term uncertainty over the structure of EADS by ruling out a quick sale of his company's stake in the European aerospace group, as he stepped up to become its chairman in waiting.

The fate of the Lagardere media company's 7.5 percent stake has been a source of unease surrounding EADS, which is governed by a delicate pact between core French and German shareholders.

Lagardere's company had already halved its initial stake since EADS, parent of jetliner maker Airbus, was set up in 2000 and had suggested it was ready to sell more to focus on its media business.

"No deadline has been set. The shareholder pact is dissolved if any shareholder goes below a certain level. But Lagardere's exit is not on the agenda," the media owner said in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper.

"If I am taking on the chairmanship of EADS, it is in a spirit of responsibility."

Lagardere was nominated for five years to the role he once shared with a German counterpart in an unwieldy power-sharing arrangement abolished by French and German leaders in 2007.

As part of the deal naming Lagardere chairman in waiting, German-born Airbus chief Tom Enders, 53, was selected to be the next chief executive of EADS, replacing Frenchman Louis Gallois, who will step down at the end of May.

Enders' deputy, French aerospace executive Fabrice Bregier, will take over the running of Airbus, the world's largest civil planemaker.

The French government owns 15 percent of EADS, Lagardere 7.5 percent and Germany's Daimler owns 22.5 percent. The German government has agreed to buy a third of Daimler's stake in a move criticized by Enders, who wants less state involvement.

EADS announced the long-awaited reshuffle after directors also nominated the former head of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, to the board from May 31, the date of the next annual shareholder meeting.

The arrival of one of Europe's key architects, credited with building an armour of credibility around the region's single currency, underscores how EADS remains an industrial pillar of the French-German relationship.

But it could lead to a clash of perspectives after EADS leaders openly challenged the euro's strength in recent years and urged monetary authorities to pay more heed to exporters.

"It will make for some interesting discussions," an official close to the company told Reuters, asking not to be named.

'SURPRISE IS NO SURPRISES'

EADS has often been roiled by Franco-German tensions over the company, which employs 100,000 people and combines politically sensitive defence and industrial interests but has gone through a calmer period under outgoing CEO Louis Gallois.

Insiders said the main significance of the changes was to ensure the first relatively normal handover since the company was set up to compete with U.S. defence companies, combining jetliners, satellites, fighter jets and rockets.

In 2004 it was the focus of a bitter battle between French managers, and its next handover was decided by politicians.

"It looks like we are behaving like a normal company," an executive said.

EADS was set up in 2000 through a merger of French, German and Spanish interests arching across the public and private sectors, and its top appointments remain politically sensitive.

Top appointments follow a pattern set out in a deal between French and German leaders in 2007 after Airbus production delays caused a rift between the euro zone's largest economies.

Still, the moves were delayed a month following a last-minute bid by French representatives to grab two posts including that of the finance director, people close to the matter said.

That job will instead go to Enders' top finance aide, fellow German Harald Wilhelm, who will retain his role as finance chief of Airbus as part of a clear victory for 53-year-old Enders.

EADS finance director Hans Peter Ring is set to retire.

Resentment has also brewed in the French aerospace industry about the loss of helicopter unit Eurocopter to German control and some French representatives were seen as wanting it back.

The company postponed a decision on succession in December amid the last-minute manoeuvres.

Eurocopter, the world's largest civil helicopter maker, employs assets that were once approximately 70 percent French, but the unit's German boss, Lurz Bertling, was re-appointed only last year, resulting in a loss of leverage for proponents of change.

"There may be another attempt on Eurocopter later. It's a big operation and means a lot to the French," a person familiar with the group speculated, asking not to be identified.

For now, EADS appears relatively immune to political battles of the past, helping to support a 25 percent rise in its shares in the past year as demand for Airbus jets increased.

"The real surprise is that there are no surprises," Lagardere said.

He said the 2007 deal between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in which he agreed to step back from the chairmanship to end a logjam of appointments, had "saved EADS from its internecine quarrels." (Writing by Tim Hepher; Additional reporting by Leila Abboud, Brian Love and Christian Plumb; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)