EADS CEO has U.S. target list, won't bid for DRS

By Jean-Michel Belot

PARIS (Reuters) - European aerospace group EADS has drawn up a list of acquisition targets in the United States but does not plan a rival bid for U.S. defense firm DRS Technologies , EADS Chief Executive Louis Gallois said.

"We're continuing to look at possible defense acquisitions," Gallois told reporters at a briefing in Paris on Tuesday.

"As the level of the dollar allows it and we have the firm desire to be present in the American defense, services and security market. We have a target list," he said.

European companies are keen to make inroads into the U.S. military market, which accounts for half the world's arms spending, with EADS seeking to reduce its dependence on revenue from selling Airbus aircraft.

Italy's Finmeccanica said last week it had decided to buy DRS for almost $4 billion in the biggest such U.S. defense deal so far by a European company. The company acknowledged it may face rival suitors.

But Gallois said on Tuesday he did not want to keep the market in suspense and that following an assessment EADS had decided not to try to outbid Finmeccanica for DRS.

EADS said last month it had bought California's PlantCML, a provider of emergency response solutions, for about $350 million from U.S. private equity firm Golden Gate Capital.

But its biggest breakthrough in defense outside Europe was in February when it and partner Northrop Grumman won a $35 billion U.S. order for aerial refueling tankers.