DASA, Aerospatiale to merge.

German aerospace group DASA said on Thursday it planned to merge with France_s Aerospatiale-Matra to create Europe_s largest aerospace company with annual sales of about 21 billion euros. "THE NEW COMPANY will be a listed, joint stock company which would give shareholders a unique opportunity to invest in the European aerospace industry," DASA_s parent company DaimlerChrysler said in a statement. The statement, which was issued by DaimlerChrysler on behalf of the French State and of the Lagardere Group which owns Aerospatiale, said the new group would be the third largest aerospace company worldwide. The Franco-German cooperation would be called European Aeronautic, Defense and Space Company (EADS) and will employ over 89,000 people. It will start operating in the first half of 2000, pending approval by supervisory authorities and the implementation of appropriate capital measures. The EADS board would be headed by Manfred Bischoff, now head of DASA, and Lagardere Chairman Jean-Luc Lagardere. The operative board will also have a German and French head. The company will have dual headquarters in Munich and Paris and be registered in the Netherlands. An agreement would be signed in Strasbourg today, it added. Sources say that French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will attend the briefing. DaimlerChrysler said a holding company would control 60 percent of the new group and a further 40 percent would be floated.