Defence firm BAE Systems said today it was in talks to sell its 20 per cent stake in planemaker Airbus to Franco-German-Spanish firm EADS, which owns the remaining 80 per cent.
"Discussions are at an early stage and a further announcement will be made if and when appropriate," BAE said in a brief statement to the London Stock Exchange.
The statement came a day after the BBC had reported that BAE planned to sell the stake, raising as much as €4.3 billion which it would likely use to expand its US defence business.
BAE Chief Executive Mike Turner is due to meet the head of Britain's Department of Trade and Industry this morning regarding the Airbus stake sale, the BBC reported.
Political implications of a deal would include how to keep Airbus's wing-making technology as well as some 13,000 Airbus jobs in Britain.
BAE in recent years has focused much of its growth on the US defence market, by far the world's largest.
It paid about €3.3 billion for Bradley fighting-vehicle maker United Defense Industries in a move that underscored the importance of the US market to BAE's future.
Airbus has been a major earnings driver for BAE and is coming off a record year for new orders, meaning hefty revenues as those planes are delivered in coming years. But the planemaker also faces challenges, including delivery of the overdue, over-budget mammoth A380 doubledecker.