EADS has abandoned plans to convert the 10% stake it owns in fighter jet manufacturer Irkut into shares in Russian state holding UAC

EADS has abandoned plans to convert the 10% stake it owns in fighter jet manufacturer Irkut into shares in Russian state holding UAC, reported Russian daily Vedomosti. Thomas Enders, CEO of Airbus, had said in August 2007 that he was interested in such a deal if the two parties “agreed on a correct price” for UAC shares. But price was one of the reasons behind EADS’s renunciation, asserts La Tribune. Thus, EADS has reportedly decided to sell its Irkut stake. UAC vice-president Valeri Bezverkhny told Vedomosti that his company had been informed of EADS’s plans about two weeks ago. The Russian newspaper, however, asserts that EADS and Irkut will not put an end to their joint projects, including the supply of parts for the A320 and the conversion of passenger planes into freighters, as well as their planned cooperation on the A350. AFP (17/06), Reuters (17/06), La Tribune, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Financial Times Deutschland