Yep, Let's Give That Tanker Contract to the French!

[Made in the USA]

Should have been an American Company like BOEING chosen!

Market watchdog targets EADS
By EMMA VANDORE
AP Business Writer

PARIS - French regulators said they were readying charges and broadening a probe into the parent company of Airbus on Tuesday after investigators allegedly found evidence of insider trading.

Regulators are trying to determine whether EADS executives and its main corporate shareholders - Lagardere Groupe and Daimler AG - sold shares when they found out that Airbus' massive jetliner, the A380, was running into construction delays.

Market watchdog Autorite des Marches Financiers said it will inform the Paris prosecutors' office "immediately" of its findings.

The French-German conglomerate said it would defend itself.

AMF said letters outlining market abuse proceedings will be sent in coming days to those allegedly involved, a day after its board met to discuss findings of a lengthy probe.

AMF and French judicial authorities have been investigating EADS share sales going back to May 2005. Many top executives and the top shareholders sold shares before a June 2006 announcement about delays related to the A380. EADS shares tumbled 26 percent in one day.

Regulators would not say how many individuals were named by the probe.

French financial daily Les Echos reported that as many as 17 people have been singled out, without saying where it got the information. The newspaper said that the AMF board accepted the conclusions of the authority's investigator, who last September found the existence of 'massive' insider trading."

AMF spokeswoman Christine Anglade declined comment.

EADS, in a statement, recognized that the proceedings "may have significant consequences on its image and reputation," but said it did not foresee financial risks for the group.

The company "intends to demonstrate that it has applied standards of excellence when communicating to the market, and has acted with full transparency," CEO Louis Gallois said in a statement.

Lagardere Groupe, one of EADS' largest shareholders, said it was confident it would be cleared, according to a statement Tuesday. Daimler spokesman Thomas Froehlich said the company is "firmly convinced" it did not participate in insider trading.

The AMF's conclusions come at a sensitive time for EADS. Last week, it scored its second big government order in as many months, when Britain signed a 13 billion pound ($26.4 billion) contract to replace the Royal Air Force's aging fleet of mid-air refueling tankers.

EADS was the junior partner in a consortium headed by U.S. defense company Northrop Grumman Corp. that beat out U.S. rival Boeing for a $35 billion contract to provide 179 refueling aircraft to the U.S. Air Force.

EADS shares rose 5.2 percent to 15.79 euros ($24.95) Tuesday.