Treetopflyer: Problem as BAE sees it is that the deep troubles at Airbus are happening at a time when the commercial aircraft industry is nearing the top of a cycle.
These problems, by EADS's own admission will take some considerable time to resolve. Fixing them will take significant capital investment and much management time and resource. As a minority shareholder in the business, BAE had no day-to-day involvement in management decisions but would have been expected to contribute towards the capital investment needed to resolve problems with new products, fix current production and delivery issues and develop new, future programmes.
A strong and resurgent Boeing, likely to be the case for some time to come, and an increasing problem with the low dollar/euro rate (specific issue with the way Airbus buys components and sells the aircraft) simply compound the concerns. Add to this the fact that the cycle will at some point turn down and, as with all recovery plans, there are risks that things might not go to plan and you can maybe appreciate why BAE felt justified in proposing a sale of its 20% shareholding, even at the low price of Euro 2.75bn.
All this was backed up by a PwC audit into the business difficulties facing Airbus, in order to understand the reasons for the low valuation which took the whole market by surprise.
Sticking with it would have potentially seen the value of its shareholding drop further, forcing BAE to stick with it for some time, potentially through another downturn the inherent associated with that.
Be sure there are no anti-European sentiments in this posting - but it is a harsh reality of life that any business owned by shareholders has to keep delivering value to those shareholders. In BAE's case, its Board clearly felt shareholder value will best be delivered by using its investment funds in other ways. Ultimately, it will be those same shareholders who decide whether to accept or reject that view.
Assuming the sale goes ahead the future for Airbus, freed of a minority shareholder, will look brighter. Under the full ownership of one Company, decision making will be less complicated and investment decisions less difficult.
As for Airbus workers in the UK, I think they can rest easy. Filton and Broughton are world centres of excellence for the design, development and manufacture of wings. To up sticks and move at any time in the future will be a costly and a high risk option, a complication Airbus does not need. Closure of its UK operations would also cut an important stream of potential repayable launch investment!