Aerospace giant denies bid for stake in Thales

Airbus parent EADS has denied claims it has bid for a 21 per cent share of Europe's largest defence electronics company.

It was claimed yesterday that the aerospace giant offered 44 euros a share or 1.8 billion euros for the stake in Thales in early October, shortly before warplane maker Dassault Aviation said it too was interested.

Thales is part of a consortium to build two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy, the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. They will be the biggest and most powerful surface warships constructed in the UK, and will enter service in 2014 and 2016.

A design team at Filton, including staff from BAE Systems and Thales, was given the go-ahead for the deal in May this year.

Speculation that telecoms equipment company Alcatel-Lucent might sell its Thales stake has grown since September, when it appointed a new chairman, a veteran of past battles over Thales.

Warplane maker Dassault Aviation said on October 14 it would study buying Alcatel's shareholding in Thales if it came up for sale and could buy another five per cent of Thales owned by family holding firm Marcel Dassault Industries.

An EADS spokeswoman said: "We have not transmitted any binding offer to Alcatel-Lucent. There is no offer from EADS for these shares today."

She declined to comment on whether EADS had made any form of approach in the past, something that would revive EADS's previously unsuccessful attempts to buy a stake.

EADS is keen to expand its defence activities as its plane making subsidiary Airbus is affected by the tough times airlines are experiencing.