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  3. Last week it emerged that BAE Systems, Europe’s biggest defence firm, and EADS, the owner of Airbus and a smaller defence busine

Last week it emerged that BAE Systems, Europe’s biggest defence firm, and EADS, the owner of Airbus and a smaller defence busine

admin2017-04-07  25
问题     Last week it emerged that BAE Systems, Europe’s biggest defence firm, and EADS, the owner of Airbus and a smaller defence business, were mooting a ￡38 billion ($50 billion) merger. This week the buzz behind closed doors concerned a single question: will governments allow it?
    The business case is straightforward. BAE is ailing. Despite successfully gambling on becoming a big gun in America nearly a decade ago, the slump in defence spending on both sides of the Atlantic had forced it to consider new options. Its tentative advances to Rolls-Royce were rebuffed.【C1】______
    At any other time, the obstacles to a deal—differences over valuation, clashing personalities and the politicised shareholding structure of EADS—might still have seemed insurmountable. But valuation has become less of an issue. BAE’s price/earnings ratio fell by nearly a third in the 18 months before merger rumours began this summer. Pessimism about the firm’s prospects deepened, too.
    Politics and personalities have grown easier. 【C2】______. He has also maintained close relationships at BAE, particularly with its boss, Ian King.
    The defeat of France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, in May helped, too. Mr. Sarkozy was chummy with Serge Dassault, the owner of Dassault Aviation, a rival maker of jets. He would never have allowed a marriage that could hurt Dassault. 【C3】______.
    Yet uniting the two firms will not be easy. The governments of at least four countries must agree: France, Germany, Britain and America. 【C4】______. A big defence firm like the merged BAE/EADS will have to assure its customers (governments) that vital intelligence is ring-fenced and cannot leak from one part of the business to another. Nor can it be acquired by an unsuitable buyer.
    Satisfying these conditions will be so tricky that some analysts think the deal will founder.【C5】______
    Rivals such as Boeing and Lockheed are sure to lobby against the merger, since it would create a competitor with bigger global sales than their own. However, the American government should welcome the emergence of a gigantic European contractor, says a defence executive. It could help Europe to do more for its own defence and spend its money more efficiently (i.e. , less nationalistically).
    More detail about both the commercial logic of combining BAE and EADS and how the overlapping political circles are to be squared will emerge after October 10th. That is when the two firms are obliged, under Britain’s rules for mergers, to say whether or not they are going ahead. Both firms are determined to make it work, but it will be their governments that decide.
[A] BAE’s institutional shareholders will not back any proposal that leaves them with 40% of a company that does not have a normal governance structure.
[B] In May Tom Enders, a German who had run Airbus since 2007, became the chief executive of EADS. Mr. Enders has long wanted to turn EADS into a "normal" firm untainted by political influence.
[C] The new President, Frangois Hollande, has given Mr. Enders a green light to explore a deal.
[D] Both Lagardere and Daimler would welcome a chance to sell their stakes. The French government has indicated it might hang on to its shares, but accept being diluted to 9%.
[E] EADS, with orders for the civil jets made by Airbus booming and little overlap in its military business, looked alluring.
[F] For example, it will be tough to provide the security guarantees that American lawmakers will demand so long as the French and German governments retain influence over the combined entity.
[G] Both Mr. Enders and Dick Olver, BAE’s chairman, are confident that they will prevail. It is not clear what will happen to the French and German stakes in EADS.
【C3】
选项
答案C
解析 本题所在段落承接上一段，是印证上段主题句中提到的问题得到解决的另一佐证。本段主要说明前法国总统萨科奇的下台也对两家集团的合并有所帮助。因为萨科奇本人在任时反对任何可能伤及与之保持良好关系的法国达索公司的合并联姻。而[C]则恰到好处地承接了上面的内容，说明新总统就任后是支持Enders所在的欧航集团寻求新的合作伙伴的，故为答案。
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