Air Transport

Chairmen welcome share purchase by state-owned bank but refuse blocking stake

EADS insists Moscow will not be allowed a say in how the company is run, after a Russian state-owned bank last week became the European aerospace giant's biggest independent shareholder.

Russian government officials have said they hope Vneshtorgbank's (VTB) purchase of €950 million ($1.2 billion) in traded shares - equivalent to 5.02% of EADS - could be turned into a blocking stake. EADS joint chairmen, Manfred Bischoff and Arnaud Lagardere, welcomed the investment as a "manifestation of interest and confidence in the long-run success of EADS" but said the Russians would not be offered a seat on the board, nor would the company's three-nation ownership structure - agreed by the French, German and Spanish governments when the company was founded in 2000 - be altered. A spokesman for Russia's president Vladimir Putin said the Kremlin wants "real participation in the control" of EADS as "a full-rights member of the directors' council" and may try to raise the stake to 25%.

Until now, EADS has downplayed reports that VTB had been preparing to buy a stake in the company by saying anyone had a right to buy and sell the roughly 30% of total EADS shares traded on three European stock markets.

The chairmen's statement comes as the leaders of France and Germany meet with Putin for a summit in Paris at the end of this week.

EADS has been building partnerships with Russian industry, keen to tap into what it sees as a burgeoning market for Airbus airliners and its expertise in a number of aeronautical disciplines.

However, an increasing Russian-owned stake in EADS will set alarm bells ringing in the USA, where the European company is keen to build its footprint in the defence and homeland security markets.