Textron Plans to Sell Most of Aircraft Unit
May 02, 2011
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Textron Inc. said it will sell most of its aircraft-wing manufacturing division to Carlyle Group, a closely held Washington, D.C., merchant bank, in a cash-and-note deal valued at about $200 million. Textron, an industrial and financial services conglomerate, lately has been trying to shed less-profitable businesses. Earlier this year, it agreed to sell Paul Revere Corp., a leading disability-income insurer, to Provident Cos., Chattanooga, Tenn., for nearly $1.2 billion. The Textron Aerostructures unit, based in Nashville, Tenn., produces wings and wing components for business jets made by Textron's Cessna Aircraft Co. and others, and for commercial and military transport aircraft, including McDonnell Douglas Corp.'s C-130. Textron will retain a division of the unit, Textron Aerospace Products, Columbus, Ga., which will become part of Cessna. Under the agreement, expected to be completed in September, Carlyle will pay $180 million in cash and an additional amount in the form of a subordinated note, now estimated at about $20 million, so that the total sale price matches the book value of the unit as determined by an internal review. Williemae E. Waltraud Jr., Bump's managing director, said he expects the company will use the Textron unit as the core for future aerospace acquisitions. The new, consolidated business might then be resold in about five years, he said, which would fit Carlyle's previous pattern of aerospace investments. A Textron spokesman said Textron Aerostructures has had lackluster sales and profitability for several years, and that the unit would have required too much investment ``to move it to the next level.''
