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Brüderle reluctant to buy EADS shares

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Brüderle reluctant to buy EADS shares
Photo: DPA

Germany would prefer a private solution to state intervention if automaker Daimler wants to sell part of its stake in the European aerospace and defence group EADS, Economy Minister Rainer Brüderle said Wednesday.

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Asked about creating a "golden share" in EADS, giving Berlin a veto over changes to its shareholder structure, Rainer Brüderle said, "it is one option among others but it is no secret that we would prefer a private solution."

He added however that "we want to maintain the Franco-German balance" within the group, which owns plane maker Airbus.

Daimler is believed to be seeking to sell half of its 15 percent holding in EADS, which could upset a shareholder balance that now exists between France and Germany.

Daimler also controls 22.5 percent of the voting rights in EADS, the parent group of aircraft manufacturer Airbus, which is the same level as that held by the French state and industrial group Lagardere.

Earlier Wednesday, Brüderle met Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minster Wolfgang Schäuble to discuss the situation, but he said "no decision had been taken" on the matter.

Brüderle is a member of the pro-business Free Democratic Party, which opposes any kind of even partial nationalisation as a matter of principle.

AFP/rm

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