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Qatar in Talks to Buy EADS Stake – Qatar Official | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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DOHA (Reuters) – The state-owned Qatar Investment Authority is in talks to buy a stake in Airbus parent EADS, an official of the Gulf state’s foreign ministry said on Monday.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani is the head of the authority, which manages around $40 billion in assets for the government of Qatar, which has the world’s third-largest reserves of natural gas.

“We are in talks with EADS,” the official, who declined to be named, said.

EADS shares opened 1.3 percent higher on Monday and were up 1.75 percent at 25.56 euros ($33.60) by 0840 GMT.

The official declined to say how much the authority was looking to invest or from whom it would buy shares.

EADS is expected to unveil details of a restructuring plan on Tuesday, having plunged into crisis last year over production problems at Airbus that delayed the A380 superjumbo and cost the company almost 5 billion euros in future profits.

The French government and French media firm Lagardere together own 22.5 percent of EADS.

The world’s fifth-biggest carmaker, DaimlerChrysler said this month it had placed 7.5 percent of EADS with a public-private consortium that would effectively reduce its stake to 15 percent. It still has the voting rights on the full 22.5 percent stake.

Spain has a 5.4 percent stake.