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Beechcraft Corporation, the Kansas-based aircraft maker, is closing in on a $1.4bn sale to the owner of Cessna in a deal that will secure the future of the company which emerged from bankruptcy just nine months ago.
Textron, which also builds Bell helicopters, may announce the deal to buy Beechcraft as early as Friday, according to people familiar with the matter. Textron’s shares closed up 14.5 per cent at a five-year high of $37.29, valuing it at $10.48bn
Beechcraft hired Credit Suisse in October to sound out potential buyers, according to people familiar with the process. The company is shifting away from its money-losing jet aircraft business and focusing instead on the less competitive propeller-powered aircraft market.
Other interested parties were rumoured to include Brazil’s Embraer and Indian group Mahindra & Mahindra.
The company – formerly known as Hawker Beechcraft and owned by a consortium of Goldman Sachs and Onyx – sought bankruptcy protection in May 2012 after suffering from declining orders for its Hawker business jets.
An $1.8bn deal in mid-2012 to sell it to Superior Aviation Beijing, a group about which little was known, broke down months later when the buyer failed to secure financing. SAB lobbied strenuously, but ultimately unsuccessfully, for the return of its $50m deposit.
It emerged from Chapter 11 in February this year after closing down the Hawker business.
The company told the Financial Times in August that it was basing its future plans on strong demand from the natural resources industry for its robust aircraft, which are capable of landing in conditions where jets would be unable to touch down.
Also in August, the company announced an order from Wheels Up, an aircraft ownership club, for 104 of its King Air turboprops – a deal that Beechcraft valued at $1.4bn.
For Textron, Beechcraft will further extend the range of aircraft it can offer customers. Cessna already offers a wider range of aircraft than any other maker of general aviation aircraft and the Beechcraft purchase will further strengthen its offering at the smaller, propeller-powered end of its range.
Cessna believes that aircraft buyers tend to be loyal to a particular brand and will stick with it as they gradually buy larger aircraft.
Centerbridge Partners, Sankaty Advisors and Angelo Gordon own about 90 per cent of Beechcraft.
None of the parties involved would discuss the process.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/59b141b0-69a5-11e3-aba3-00144feabdc0.html
Textron, which also builds Bell helicopters, may announce the deal to buy Beechcraft as early as Friday, according to people familiar with the matter. Textron’s shares closed up 14.5 per cent at a five-year high of $37.29, valuing it at $10.48bn
Beechcraft hired Credit Suisse in October to sound out potential buyers, according to people familiar with the process. The company is shifting away from its money-losing jet aircraft business and focusing instead on the less competitive propeller-powered aircraft market.
Other interested parties were rumoured to include Brazil’s Embraer and Indian group Mahindra & Mahindra.
The company – formerly known as Hawker Beechcraft and owned by a consortium of Goldman Sachs and Onyx – sought bankruptcy protection in May 2012 after suffering from declining orders for its Hawker business jets.
An $1.8bn deal in mid-2012 to sell it to Superior Aviation Beijing, a group about which little was known, broke down months later when the buyer failed to secure financing. SAB lobbied strenuously, but ultimately unsuccessfully, for the return of its $50m deposit.
It emerged from Chapter 11 in February this year after closing down the Hawker business.
The company told the Financial Times in August that it was basing its future plans on strong demand from the natural resources industry for its robust aircraft, which are capable of landing in conditions where jets would be unable to touch down.
Also in August, the company announced an order from Wheels Up, an aircraft ownership club, for 104 of its King Air turboprops – a deal that Beechcraft valued at $1.4bn.
For Textron, Beechcraft will further extend the range of aircraft it can offer customers. Cessna already offers a wider range of aircraft than any other maker of general aviation aircraft and the Beechcraft purchase will further strengthen its offering at the smaller, propeller-powered end of its range.
Cessna believes that aircraft buyers tend to be loyal to a particular brand and will stick with it as they gradually buy larger aircraft.
Centerbridge Partners, Sankaty Advisors and Angelo Gordon own about 90 per cent of Beechcraft.
None of the parties involved would discuss the process.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/59b141b0-69a5-11e3-aba3-00144feabdc0.html