France's 15% stake in EADS would be watered down to 10%, and Lagardere's 7.5% would be diluted to 5% if the merger is approved. Spain's 4% would also be reduced.

EADS has been trying to become less dependent on its Airbus business, which contributes the majority of revenues. EADS planned to grow the non-Airbus revenues to around 50% within the next eight years. But with Airbus booming and military budgets stagnating at best, that goal seemed ever more unrealistic to achieve. Combining with BAE would bring the larger group instantly to about a 50/50 civil/military split, analysts estimate. One of the ironies of the proposed deal is that six years after the U.K. industry effectively exited the civil OEM business through the sale of its 20% stake in Airbus, it will now be back in that market again.