in january 2014, eads was reorganised as "airbus group nv", with three divisions (airbus, airbus defence and space, and airbus helicopters. on 27 may 2015 the company became a "societas europaea" (se) (latin: european company), having been a "naamloze vennootschap" (public limited company). in september 2016, airbus group announced that it would merge with its largest division, airbus sas, into a new entity and introduce a single airbus brand, the merge to take effect on 1 january 2017. the group reorganized under the brand name of "airbus" in january 2017. the subsidiaries airbus helicopters and airbus defence and space became operating divisions of the same company. airbus group se changed its legal name to "airbus se" at its 2017 annual meeting on 12 april 2017.