German carmarker Daimler raised over $2 billion from a lightning sale of shares in Airbus parent EADS yesterday, making it the first beneficiary of a shake-up of the European aerospace company that sent EADS shares higher.

Daimler’s sale of a 7.5 per cent stake is the first step in a complex set of transactions designed to reduce the scope for government interference in Europe’s largest aerospace group, following a deal between politicians, banks and industrialists.

The deal led by France, Germany and Spain calls for governments and proxies to reduce a block of shareholdings in EADS to 30 per cent from 50 per cent, while removing a boardroom veto over industrial matters previously enjoyed by France. Daimler said it had netted €1.66 billion from selling a 7.5 per cent stake in EADS.

– (Reuters)