European aerospace giant EADS has ended nine months of wrangling over its management structure and named Noel Forgeard and Thomas Enders as co-presidents, the company confirmed on Saturday. The world's second largest aerospace group also said it had appointed Gustav Humbert to replace Forgeard at the head of its Airbus division, the first time a German has run the Toulouse-based plane-maker.
The deal puts to rest an intense Franco-German battle over the management makeup of the company and should allow it to refocus on the challenge from its US rival Boeing which is threatening Airbus's spot as the world's top plane-maker.
"Our focus will be to continue the company's strong growth trajectory and commitment to innovation, and to reinforce our focus on business performance," Enders and Forgeard said in a statement.
French Finance Minister Thierry Breton acted as midwife to the deal, telling Le Figaro newspaper he had hosted several rounds of talks in his offices between the major shareholders.
EADS priority now was to ensure a successful commercial launch of the Airbus A380, the world's biggest passenger airliner, he told the paper.
EADS's French and German shareholders had been unable to agree on the future structure of the management and the division of responsibilities, delaying the official appointment of Forgeard and Enders in their co-CEO roles.
EADS is 30-percent owned by DaimlerChrysler and 30-percent owned by a holding company which is jointly controlled by French government and Lagardere.
EADS co-chairmen Arnaud Lagardere and Manfred Bischoff acknowledged there had been "intense discussions" over the top appointments.
"Our key priority for the second term of EADS is to ensure the company builds on its strong profit performance, particularly through a renewed focus on enhancing the value of its core business," they said in a joint statement.
The Franco-German differences at the heart of the EADS management row have been simmering ever since the group was created in 2000.
They came to a head when Forgeard fought to be promoted from head of Airbus to EADS co-CEO in a bitter and ultimately successful campaign that split the firm last year.
Under the deal announced on Saturday, EADS will have two chief operating officers. Frenchman Jean-Paul Gut will be in charge of international affairs and strategy while Hans Peter Ring will be COO for finance.
The pair will also sit with Forgeard and Enders on a top management board.
In its statement EADS said it had dissolved its Aeronautics division and made Eurocopter the new EADS helicopter division, to be run by Eurocopter CEO Fabrice Bregier.
The company said that in day-to-day matters, Bregier, Gut and Stefan Zoller, new head of EADS Defence and Security Systems Division, would report to Enders.
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