, Agreement has finally been reached regarding the sale of part of DaimlerChrysler's stake in European aerospace giant EADS, with a deal to be announced in the next two weeks, according to a German government spokesman.
“A solution has been found,” spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview published Wednesday. “The participants have reached an agreement. The final details are now being worked out.”
A deal was scheduled to be announced next week or the week after next, Wilhelm added.
A consortium of banks is set to take over a 7.5 percent share in EADS, but plans to hold it only for a few years, before reselling it to DaimlerChrysler, the Reuters news agency reported, citing an anonymous source familiar with the deal. DaimlerChrysler would retain its voting rights.
“It is an interim solution, it's no more than a loan,” the source said, adding that it wouldn't be unrealistic to hold the stake for three or four years.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that the deal would be based on a complex construction of derivative securities that would run for a number of years.
Observers value the share at 1.5 billion euros ($1.95 billion).
Media reports have said the consortium would include Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, KfW Kreditanstalt f
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