Should the German government buy a stake in EADS?
Despite official announcements to the contrary, the German government is putting together a secret plan to acquire a stake in ailing German-French aerospace company EADS. According to the German daily, the Kfw bank group has been commissioned to draw up a model for the acquisition of EADS shares on a short term basis. Ursula Weidenfeld comments: “Having the state as a partner and shareholder has not proven particularly beneficial for companies in the past. State companies or companies where the government has stepped in with financial aid have seldom fulfilled expectations of making a quick recovery. It’s unlikely that the situation at Airbus would improve if on top of the French government the German government also tries its hand at cooking this industrial-political soup… The best solution for the German stake in the company, currently held by Daimler-Chrysler, would be a new shareholder who focuses on the recovery of the company as a whole rather than geo-political considerations.
