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NEWTOWN, Conn. - European aerospace prime, European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) has indicate it is still interested in maintaining a share in Russia's state-owned aerospace holding entity, United Aircraft Corporation (UAC).
On June 18, EADS issued a statement indicating that it "is willing to acquire the equivalent amount in UAC as soon as the financial valuation of this company will have been achieved as planned, and the operation will be made technically possible."
The statement follows developments on June 17 that saw EADS report that it would sell its 10 percent stake in Irkut to UAC as part of a buyout effort launched by the Russian firm several weeks ago. In March 2008, UAC offered EADS RUB2.16 billion, or RUB22.28 per share (approximately $0.95), as part of its attempt to net 49.9 percent of the companies charter capital. By gaining a near majority of its Irkut's charter capital, UAC is now able to effectively consolidate the 38.22 percent of Irkut transferred from private share holders and the 11.89 percent it absorbed from Sukhoi into a 50.1 percent majority share.
In recent years it has become common place for UAC, which has 90.1 percent of its joint-stock shares held by the Russian government, to either acquire or absorb aerospace and defense industries in Russia and the CIS. Moreover, UAC has emerged as a vertically-integrated aerospace prime in a region traditionally dominated by a plethora of separate research, design, and production enterprises.
However, UAC's buyout of EADS shares and the implications the deal has for the ownership of Irkut suggests that the UAC is intent on acquiring a majority share in all major elements of the Russian aerospace enterprise; even if this entails acquiring the shares of foreign investors.
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