 |
ADBR reporting from Le Bourget
June 15th, 1999
By Trevor Thomas, Managing Editor ADBR
At the beginning of the last Paris Air Show for the current century, the pressures for industrial consolidation in Europe has seen the creation of a new defence-industrial conglomerate - Aerospatiale Matra - which its own top management has described "will pave the way to the 21st century" in the defence sector.
The result of a decision brought together not much more than three months ago with the aim of infusing commercial expertise into the running business sectors traditionally dominated by government, a successful listing on the Paris Bourse 4 June saw Aerospatiale Matra formally created.
Headed by Yves Michot as Chairman and Philippe Camus as CEO, the Bourse listing sees the new company owned: 33% by Lagadere SCA (the core shareholder); 17% via the public (8.5% institutions, 7.6% private investors and 2.3% employees); whilst the balance (48%) remains with the French State.
Trevor Thomas checks out the Tiger
Across the world, Aerospatiale Matra will operate in four business sectors: aircraft (aeroplanes, helicopters and services); defence (tactical and strategic missiles and missile systems); space (satellites, launcher, orbital infrastructures); and systems, services and telecommunications (including C3I systems and encryption).
In the world defence pecking order, Aerospatiale Matra ranks fifth after Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, the new British Aerospace (incorporating Marconi) and Raytheon. It will have 54,000 employees (including nearly 10,000 outside France). Pro forma sales in 1998 were 80.634 billion francs (12.393 billion Euros), with half of these generated in export markets.
At a press conference 14 June, Mssrs Michot and Camus urged journalists not to consider the Aerospatiale Matra initiative in simple merger terms. Michot said, "What we have created is a new company that is a bet on the future. It is now speaking with one voice. There is an emphasis on common presentation and the combination of intellectual capital that is unique in Europe."
In Australia, and through Eurocopter, the new company is currently pitched in a three-way battle to supply the Australian Defence Force with a new-armed reconnaissance helicopter. Eurocopter's 'Tiger' survived the Project Air 87 short-listing in May (along with Agusta's 'Scorpion' and Boeing's 'Apache'), and will now enter into an intensive tendering process spanning October through to February 2000.
REF XQQPC XQQEE XQQAR XQQLD
Copyright(c) 1996-1999 Defence Data Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in
part in any form or medium is
prohibited except as provided in the Conditions of Use. The
Defence Data logo is the trademark
of Defence Data Ltd. Defence Systems Daily is the trademark of Defence Data Ltd. By using this Web Site, you
agree to all of the
Conditions of Use.
|
