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BAE targets Saudi sales?
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July 10, 2000: 9:44 a.m. ET
Report: Defense firm in talks with Saudis to sell Eurofighter jets for $4.6B
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LONDON (CNNfn) - BAE Systems Plc, Europe's second-largest aerospace and defense company, and the British government are in talks with Saudi Arabian authorities to sell 48 Eurofighter combat jets for about £3 billion ($4.6 billion), a U.K. newspaper said, although BAE described the report as speculative.
The Sunday Times said the value of the deal could rise to more than £6 billion, to include the construction of a new air base, the sale of 40 BAE Hawk trainer jets, spares and services.
"This is total speculation", Mike Peters, a spokesman for BAE, told CNNfn.com. "We are marketing the Eurofighter worldwide. The aircraft is highly effective and capable and we have been to the Middle East to push sales."
 Any agreement would need to be negotiated by the British government, but The Ministry of Defense in London called the story "unfounded speculation."
BAE completed the sale of 48 Tornado fighter jets to Saudi Arabia two years ago, as part of a contract called Al Yamamah, which also provided for the upgrading of aircraft, training and spare parts.
The sale of Typhoon, as the export version of Eurofighter is known, would be the second big order for the four-nation consortium building the aircraft. BAE has a 38 percent stake in the Eurofighter project, the rest belonging to the European Aeronautic, Defense and Space Co., Europe's largest aerospace company.
EADS was formed by the three-way merger of Aérospatiale-Matra, DaimlerChrysler AG's (FDCX) Dasa aerospace unit, and Spain's Construcciones Aeronauticas SA, or Casa. The merger created the world's third-biggest aerospace company after Boeing Co (BA: Research, Estimates) and Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT: Research, Estimates).
Greece has said it wants to buy up to 80 aircraft, although it has yet to confirm the order.
Shares in BAE Systems rose 10.25 pence, or 2.5 percent, to 427.5 pence in midday trade in London. EADS stock slipped to  17.48 in Paris, an 8 percent drop from its initial public offering price of 19. 
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BAE Systems
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