PARIS, March 24: Key shareholders in European aerospace giant EADS are to consider a move that would prevent foreign investors from acquiring more than a 15 per cent stake, the EADS chairman said in an interview published on Monday by the Financial Times.

Rudiger Grubbe told the paper that such an initiative would be an alternative to according France and Germany “golden shares” in EADS, preferential stakes carrying veto rights that could be given to the French and German governments.

He said changes could be made to the EADS statutes that would prevent “somebody (who) would like to take more than (a) 15 per cent” interest in the company.

“The main shareholders should decide (who can take a strategic stake) and not somebody who isn’t a shareholder today,” Grube told the Financial Times, adding that the modifications might not be approved this year.

The German state is not currently a shareholder in the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, the parent group for aircraft manufacturer Airbus.—AFP