
Leading European aerospace and defence companies EADS and BAE Systems are to ask Wednesday for a delay from British regulators to a deadline on announcing if they will pursue a tie-up that would create a global giant bigger than US rival Boeing, a source close to the matter said.\
Approval from European countries concerned by the deal depends on a decision from Germany, the source said late on Tuesday.
But enough progress had been made to warrant a request to the British financial market regulator for a delay to its deadline of 1600 GMT, he added.
EADS head Tom Enders and his counterpart at BAE Systems, Ian King, were expected to decide before markets opened on Wednesday whether to seek a delay or announce that they would abandon their merger talks.
On Tuesday, the negotiations were boosted by news of a compromise between France and Britain to limit state influence in the proposed new company.
“We have learned that France and Britain made significant progress on the issue that has been blocking the talks,” a spokesman for the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company said.
In France, Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici also suggested that matters were moving forward.
“We believe we have defended the interests of France and Europe well and completely in this complicated merger,” Moscovici told lawmakers.