Qatar is interested in buying a 7.5 percent stake in European aerospace and defense company EADS from Daimler, a German Der Spiegel magazine reported Sunday. It said members of Qatar's government had met with German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler two weeks ago. EADS' defense portfolio includes France's nuclear weapons and German fighters, and its Airbus subsidiary guarantees about 55,000 civil jobs. One of the founding shareholders of EADS, Daimler aims to cut its stake and has urged the German government to find a solution, but reports have said that Berlin is having trouble finding an investor who would maintain the balance of power. Daimler owns 15 percent of EADS and has voting rights for a further 7.5 percent of its shares held by a consortium of financial investors. Sources have said German state development bank KfW may have to take on EADS shares from Daimler, a solution unpopular with some politicians in Berlin who oppose state intervention in the economy. A spokeswoman for Germany's economy ministry said she could not comment on ongoing negotiations. A spokesman for Daimler declined to comment. Any move by a foreign investor to take a stake in EADS would come as a surprise because maintaining a fragile internal power balance between French and German interests in EADS has been a sensitive topic ever since the group was created. Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said this week that talks about the German carmaker selling a stake in EADS were progressing, without elaborating. A ministry source said that while interest from Qatar shows that EADS is highly attractive, any potential purchase of a stake by a sovereign fund would have to be examined very critically because of the company's strategic importance. Qatar bought a 9.1 percent stake in Germany's biggest builder Hochtief last year.
