The German government plans to buy a bigger stake of up to 12 percent of EADS from Daimler and private banks, a government source said on Friday, in a sign it wants to defend national interests in the European aerospace group.
"The draft of the supplementary budget foresees EUR€1.6 billion (USD$2.1 billion) for this purpose," the source said.
Germany had already said it would buy a 7.5 percent stake in EADS from Daimler, and the additional 4.5 percent will come from the Dedalus consortium, belonging to private banks.
The deal will be carried out via state-controlled development bank KfW.
Such a move by the government may well add to tensions over site locations at the group, the parent of aircraft maker Airbus, which has already warned Germany it will not tolerate meddling.
EADS chief executive Louis Gallois earlier this month defended plans by his designated successor, Tom Enders, to refocus more of the group's activities near Airbus headquarters in Toulouse in southern France, despite some misgivings in Chancellor Angela Merkel's government.
EADS is currently controlled by a partnership of German carmaker Daimler, French media firm Lagardere and the French state. It was plagued in its early years both by tensions between French and German interests and by infighting within the French camp.
A spokeswoman for the German economy ministry late on Thursday declined to comment on a report in Friday's Financial Times Deutschland about the larger stake purchase. An EADS spokesman in Germany also declined to comment, saying it was a matter for the shareholders.
Daimler was unavailable for comment.
