Thales denies mulling merger with Safran; 'in no rush' for acquisitions

Thales denies mulling merger with Safran; 'in no rush' for acquisitions

	Published : Sun, 17 Jun 2007 16:09 By : Agencies Print this Story

PARIS (Thomson FInancial) - Thales is 'in no rush' to make acquisitions even if it 'has the means' to do so and has no current plans to merge with Safran, chief executive Denis Ranque said on Friday.

Speaking at a press meeting in Paris in the run-up to the Bourget airshow on Monday, Ranque also pointed out that 'the State, the leading shareholder (in Thales, with 31 pct) can oppose any initiative by Thales that is against its own interests, but president Nicolas Sarkozy cannot force Thales to do something that would be inappropriate; we are a privately-owned company'.

'We respect all our shareholders,' Ranque continued, referring to Alcatel, which owns a 21 pct stake, and Group Industriel Marcel Dassault (GIMD) which owns 5 pct.

Rumours of a merger with Safran have been intensifying in recent weeks, with business daily La Tribune claiming at the start of the month that the two groups had resumed talks following the election of conservative Nicolas Sarkozy as president.

At the time, a spokeswoman for Safran said 'nothing was ruled out' regarding a tie-up with Thales, while Thales itself said there were no talks underway.

However, Ranque on Friday played down the speculation, saying 'the business world isn't just about mergers and acquisitions, it's about production, sales, meetings with customers'.

He said Thales' priority is to 'succeed in the integration of its recent acquisitions,' that is 25 pct of the state-owned naval defence group DCNS, and Alcatel's transport and satellite security activities (Thales Alenia

Space).

'We are already sufficiently busy with the integration,' he continued, 'and are in no particular rush to make acquisitions, we have no specific target for the time being.'

However, Ranque did say that the group could seek to grow via acquisitions in its three core activities, defence, aeronautics and security, noting that 'we have the means to do so'.

vicky.buffery@thomson.com

afp/vb/gp

The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.