European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company - EADS
With the merger of the French Aerospatiale Matra S.A. (Paris), the Spanish Construcciones Aeronáuticas S.A. (CASA, Madrid) and the German DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (Dasa, Munich), Europe's largest aerospace company was formed on 10 July 2000: the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, also known by its acronym EADS. The activities of the three founder companies in the areas of Airbus, aeronautics (military aircraft, helicopters, regional aircraft), military transport aircraft, defence and space have been concentrated in the new company. EADS will be a company according dutch law (N.V.).
EADS has organised its various business activities into five divisions - Airbus, Military Transport Aircraft, Aeronautics, Defence and Civil Systems and Space. In the Defence and Civil Systems Division, Dasa and Aerospatiale hold equal shares in the Euromissile company, which develops and produces the antitank systems HOT and Milan and also the short range antiaircraft system Roland. Under the roof of the Euromissile Dynamics Group G.I.E., in which Dasa, Aerospatiale Matra and BAE Systems each hold a one third share, the antitank guided missile systems Trigat MR and Trigat LR are undergoing development.
Aerospatiale Matra S.A. was created in 1970 by the fusion of the French state-owned companies Sud-Aviation, Nord-Aviation and Societé d'Etudes et de Réalisation d'Engins Balistiques (Sereb). The private industry Matra Group had extended its activities since the 1960's to space and defence activities. In June 1999, the state-owned Aerospatiale fused as part of its privatisation with the Matra High Technology Group, derived from the private Lagardère Group, into the Aerospatiale-Matra Concern, in which the French State (directly and indirectly) held 48 % and the Lagardère Group 33 % of the shares. 19 % of the capital was widely spread (17 % on the Stock Exchange and 2 % to the workforce).
CASA (Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA), founded in 1923, was the number 1 in the Spanish aerospace and defence industries and had participated for years in the major European programmes in this sector. As part of its privatisation, CASA was incorporated into EADS. Up to that point in time, the Spanish state holding company SEPI (Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales) held the shares in the aerospace concern. CASA is one of the market leaders for light and medium-sized military transport aircraft. In addition, it has gathered comprehensive experience in the carbon fibre compound materials. 90 % of its turnover is earned by CASA with the export of its products.
DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (Dasa) was founded in 1989 as Deutsche Aerospace AG. It bundled together the aeronautics and space activities of the DaimlerChrysler Concern, which held 100 % of its shares. A large part of the German aerospace industry was assimilated into Dasa. The companies Dornier (shares 57.6 %, voting rights 87.5 %), Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB), MTU München and Telefunken Systemtechnik (TST) were merged. In 1997, Siemens Sicherungstechnik joined the concern. Its international competitiveness could be assured by means of the national consolidation of the German aerospace industry. Dasa generated three-quarters of its turnover in European and transatlantic cooperations. Since the foundation of EADS, the engines manufacturer MTU München is managed directly by DaimlerChrysler AG.
