BAE, EADS Terminate Merger Talks

Rejected by governments October. 10, 2012: EADS announces [PDF] that they and BAE have decided to terminate their merger discussions. They confirm what had been widely discussed in the past month, with mounting pressure in recent days: “it has become clear that the interests of the parties’ government stakeholders cannot be adequately reconciled with each other or with the objectives that BAE Systems and EADS established for the merger.” Today was the regulatory deadline for the companies to signal their intent to either pursue or give up on the deal. After news of the merger were apparently leaked last month before the companies were ready to make an announcement, it quickly became clear that conciliating French, German, British and American interests would be a tall order because of diverging jobs and sovereignty concerns. Various press reports say (from unnamed sources) that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was most firmly against the deal, though plenty of spin from all parties has been a staple of this unfolding story. In reality nobody expressed their unreserved love for the merger. Major private shareholders in both companies – from Lagardere to Daimler to Invesco Perpetual – made their doubts known, often quite publicly. Will EADS […]