BAE and EADS scrap €34bn merger talks

Opposition from politicians and investors including Invesco Perpetual has led defence giants BAE and EADS to scrap their proposed merger.

The deal, which would have created the world's largest defence and aerospace company, has been abandoned because government and corporate interests could not be "adequately reconciled", BAE said in a statement today. Leading investors had also voiced their opposition to the deal. Invesco Perpetual said earlier this week it did not understand the logic of the proposal and warned it could jeopardise BAE's "unique and privileged position" in the US market. UK-listed BAE said today it had not yet had the chance to make a detailed case for the merger to respective governments in the UK and...