Toulouse-based manufacturer Latécoère has signed a memorandum of understanding with China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation to bid for Airbus A350 programme contracts.
The companies intend to bid for the supply of fuselage sections if the programme goes ahead. Some of the work could be done in China and some in France, says chief executive François Bertrand.
The company says that it would issue more than 2 million shares in an offer aimed at raising around €64 million ($80 million) and helping finance participation in new-aircraft programmes.
“We’ve had significant growth in 2003 and 2004 and we expect to maintain this in the next few years,” says Jean-Jacques Pignères, Latécoère’s senior vice-president, finance and administration. “To face this growth we have financial needs – the capital increase will finance further growth.”
The company is investing around €50 million in facilities in Brazil, the Czech Republic and Tunisia and is building a second manufacturing facility for composite materials in the Czech Republic, a cabling manufacturing facility in Tunisia and a manufacturing facility for fuselage sections in Brazil, near Embraer’s headquarters.
Source: Flight International
