A lot of the noise in the proposed €38bn merger between BAE Systemsand EADSis that it is all about the defence industry. That is a mistake. The jewel in this combination would be Airbus. Over 40 years it has come from nowhere to rival Boeingin commercial aeroplanes. Airbus accounted for two-thirds of EADS’s first-half 2012 revenues of €25bn, and half of its earnings before interest and tax. It has an order book of €500bn and net cash of €10bn. Why would a business riding an upswing in civilian aircraft wish to merge with an ex-growth defence company?
英國BAE系統(tǒng)公司(BAE Systems)與歐洲宇航防務(wù)集團(tuán)(EADS)擬議的380億歐元合并案引起了熱議，完全是因?yàn)樗婕暗椒绖?wù)領(lǐng)域。這種觀點(diǎn)是錯(cuò)誤的。空客(Airbus)才將是合并后企業(yè)里最璀璨的寶石。40年來，空客從無到有，發(fā)展成為一家在商用飛機(jī)領(lǐng)域可與波音(Boeing)匹敵的企業(yè)。今年上半年EADS創(chuàng)下250億歐元收入，空客占到其中的三分之二，對(duì)全集團(tuán)息稅前利潤的貢獻(xiàn)率也達(dá)到50%。空客的訂單金額為5000億歐元，凈現(xiàn)金為100億歐元。一家在民用飛機(jī)領(lǐng)域蒸蒸日上的企業(yè)會(huì)是否愿意與一家增長乏力的防務(wù)企業(yè)合并呢？