Irish, German investment groups take EADS to Dutch court

The Hague–The companies tribunal in Amsterdam will hear an application by Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM) and Deka Investment for it to "order an investigation into the policies and affairs of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company," a court statement said.

The parties were also seeking certain "immediate measures" but the tribunal refused to give further details.

The Financial Times Deutschland reported on Monday that the two companies would seek compensation for losses suffered when EADS share values fell because of delays in the construction of the Airbus A400M, a military transport, and of the A380 super-jumbo.

Lawyers for the companies would not comment.

Deka Investment is a Frankfurt-based privately owned investment manager with savings banks, insurance companies and pension funds as clients.

ILIM manages assets on behalf of multinational corporations, charities and domestic companies.

An independent report on the Airbus A400M project laid blame last week for delays and cost overruns with directors of parent company EADS.

The company has asked the seven countries that ordered the military transport plane to cover EUR 5.2 billion (USD 7.4 billion) in unanticipated costs.

In 2003, the A400M programme was given a budget of EUR 20 billion for 180 aircraft but development has run into problems and the plane needs an estimated 11 billion euros more for production to be completed successfully.

Talks were held in Berlin last week between representatives from Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey, and EADS directors on how to share the extra costs.