By Giulia Segreti and Tim Hepher

ROME/PARIS (Reuters) -The board of Italy’s Leonardo gathered for a crucial meeting on Tuesday to review a tentative deal to forge a new European satellite manufacturer with its existing partner Thales and rival Airbus, people familiar with the matter said.

Barring a late setback, the three companies could announce as early as this week that they have reached broad alignment on plans to pool their loss-making activities into a new venture to fend off competitors led by Elon Musk, two of the people said.

However, after more than a year of tricky talks over the balance of power, valuations, anti-trust issues and most recently a political crisis in France, there is no guarantee of a sign-off and the timing remains unconfirmed, they warned.

None of the compa

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