By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European aerospace companies Airbus, Thales and Leonardo, which are in talks over a possible merger of their satellite businesses, will meet EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera on Wednesday, according to a European Commission agenda.
The three companies’ tentative plans to set up a joint space company come as they look to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink.
They are currently in preliminary discussions with EU antitrust officials, a step usually before a formal request for approval for merger deals.
The talks are at a very early process that would not be expected to lead to any material outcome until well into next year, a source told Reuters last month.
Chief executives typically meet with the EU competition chief to brief on their deals and to get a sense of potential hurdles in the regulatory process such as remedies to address antitrust concerns.
Airbus’ CEO has said he would be happy if satellite merger talks with Thales and Leonardo lead to a venture like the MBDA European missile project, and he hoped EU antitrust regulators will take a looser stance than in the past.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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