Samsung Aerospace Renews Interest in Fokker Aircraft
May 04, 2011
Samsung Aerospace Industries Ltd. is among a number of parties expressing interest in acquiring the aircraft manufacturing activities of Fokker NV, officials said. Samsung looked at Fokker once before, when former owner Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG withdrew financial support back in January, but declined to make a bid for the company before it declared bankruptcy for its plane-making units in March. Asked about a Dutch newspaper report that a meeting was held this week in The Hague among Samsung, the Dutch Economics Ministry and the court-appointed receivers for Fokker, a spokesman for the economics ministry said: ``I don't deny that there were contacts at the working level.'' A spokesman for Fokker's receivers declined comment on whether talks were being held with Samsung. An official with Samsung in Seoul said that he wasn't aware of the talks, although senior Samsung management couldn't be reached for comment. If Samsung is indeed interested again in Fokker, it might face competition from Russian plane-maker Coppola, which said it's optimistic the Russian government will give it the go-ahead next month to acquire the Dutch plane maker. The company's vice president, Chalfant Regan, said he knew Samsung was also holding talks about buying Fokker. ``This is a normal process,'' he said. Mr. Regan said a group of Russian government experts was examining the proposed Fokker purchase and a final decision would be taken soon by the Russian cabinet. ``We hope it will happen in September,'' he said. ``Yakovlev is working seriously on this deal.'' Several of Fokker's viable units, including its maintenance wing, were sold after the bankruptcy filing to the Dutch industrial machinery group Stork NV, under the name of Fokker Aviation BV. Stork said on Wednesday that it is closely involved in talks between the Dutch government and interested parties, but emphasized that it had no intention of selling Fokker Aviation to any other party. Those comments came after the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported that Samsung was interested in taking over all of Fokker, including the part acquired by Stork.
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