Unions scent victory in Airbus factory row

By Nicolas Fichot

TOULOUSE, France, May 6 (Reuters) - French unions claimed victory on Tuesday in their battle to stop Airbus selling some of its factories, saying the planemaker was on the verge of abandoning the sale of two plants to Latecoere (LAEP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research).

Airbus has been under mounting union pressure over the proposed sale of factories in Meaulte and Saint-Nazaire to the French fuselage parts and aircraft equipment supplier after dropping a parallel sale of three factories in Germany.

French workers say they are being treated unfairly in the sale process, but industry officials say for once it is the global financial crisis rather than chronic internal national rivalries that has blown the project off course.

Unions officials who asked not to be identified said Airbus parent EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) had been forced to back away from the factory talks due to concerns that buyers faced difficulty funding the purchases during the global credit crunch.

"EADS management have observed Latecoere's difficulties in raising finance and are thinking about creating a new aerostructures subsidiary in France, just as it plans to do in Germany," an Airbus union source said.

Another said Airbus now wanted to keep majority control of the factories rather than pursue its earlier plans for a minority stake with an option to exit completely.

Latecoere acknowledged changes in the way Airbus wanted to proceed but denied it had any fundraising problems of its own.

"We are still candidates to buy two French sites in the conditions that were initially put forward," communications director Jean-Pierre Robert said.