EADS Deal Reached

"A solution has been found," spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview published Wednesday. "The participants have reached an agreement. The final details are now being worked out."

A deal was scheduled to be announced next week or the week after next, Wilhelm added.

A consortium of banks is set to take over a 7.5 percent share in EADS, but plans to hold it only for a few years, before reselling it to DaimlerChrysler, the Reuters news agency reported, citing an anonymous source familiar with the deal. DaimlerChrysler would retain its voting rights.

"It is an interim solution, it's no more than a loan," the source said, adding that it wouldn't be unrealistic to hold the stake for three or four years.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that the deal would be based on a complex construction of derivative securities that would run for a number of years.

Observers value the share at 1.5 billion euros ($1.95 billion).

Media reports have said the consortium would include Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, KfW Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, a number of regional public-sector banks, or Landesbanken, and three non-German financial institutes: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.

Germany wants to keep a balance

Germany is currently represented in the European Aeronautics Defense and Space Company via a 22.5 percent share held by German-US auto giant DaimlerChrysler.

French interests are controlled by the holding company Sogeade, which holds 15 percent and is controlled by the French state. A further 15 percent share is owned by the media and defense group Lagardere, which also plans to sell 7.5 percent, reducing the French stake of 22.5 percent.

But DaimlerChrysler has made it known that it wants to reduce its stake to 15 percent, raising the question of what would happen to the 7.5-percent stake being put up for sale.

Berlin insists the stake should remain in German hands in order to maintain the current balance of power.