Wichita aerostructures supplier Spirit AeroSystems has sold Fiber Materials, a manufacturer of high-temperature materials for defence applications, to aerospace firm Tex Tech Industries for $165 million in cash.
The move, planned since November last year, comes four years after Spirit purchased Fiber Materials for $120 million. At the time, Spirit said the acquisition would help it diversify into the defence segment.
Spirit completed the sale on 13 January, it says. In recent months, the company has been seeking to shore up a balance sheet weakened after years of massive losses against many of its commercial aircraft programmes.
Spirit is also in the process of closing a deal that will see it be acquired by Boeing, with a planned close in mid-2025.
“This transaction is in the best interest of Spirit, the [Fiber Materials] business and the customers it serves,” Spirit chief financial officer Irene Esteves says.
Fiber Materials, which has operations in Maine and Rhode Island, produces “high-temperature materials and composites” for defence applications, including for hypersonic missiles. Its products are primarily used for production of “thermal protection systems, re-entry vehicle nose tips and rocket motors and nozzles”, Spirit has said.
When acquiring Fiber Materials in 2020, Spirit called the firm “an excellent fit with Spirit”, saying Fiber’s “capabilities will help us develop new composites technology for a number of aerospace applications”.
Tex Tech, the firm that now owns Fiber Materials, designs and produces textiles and fabrics for a range of industries, including space, aerospace, medical and automative.
