EADS chief: offering Germany, France, Britain equal rights in merged company with BAE

BERLIN – The chief executive of EADS says Germany, France and Britain are being offered equal rights and a right to veto hostile takeovers in the company that would emerge from a proposed merger with BAE Systems PLC.

EADS NV's Tom Enders is working hard to drum up support for a merger of the aeronautics and defense companies but the deal faces potential roadblocks. One potential difficulty is how the deal would affect the current French-German balance of power at Airbus parent EADS.

Germany's Daimler holds a 22.5 percent stake in EADS, the French government owns 15 percent and French media company Lagardere has 7.5 percent.

Enders was quoted Thursday as telling German daily Bild that he sees "no advantage" for Germany in buying shares.