Ian Verchere
Dassault Aviation plans to hive its civil and military activities off into two separate companies by the end of this year.
Announcing this at Le Bourget, group chairman and CEO Serge Dassault says the move is part of an effort to "improve flexibility and competitiveness, and help us stay ahead of market trends."
The new companies will be known as Dassault Defense and Dassault Falcon, and the restructuring is described by aides as "more of an internal management tool" than a precursor to any radical change.
The 74-year-old chief executive denies suggestions it might portend a partial sell-off following recent consolidation moves within the wider French aerospace sector.
"We are now a 100% private company, following reorganisation of our shareholding structure," he adds, "including the addition of Aerospatiale Matra as one of our shareholders."
This altered circumstance follows the French government's sale of its 46.7% stake in Dassault Aviation to the recently privatised Aerospatiale-Matra.
Both of the new entities would be 100% subsidiaries of Dassault Aviation with no plans to list them separately on the Paris Bourse.
Dassault Defense, however, would be structured to include the group's space activities. There would be no change to the parent's long-standing Paris Bourse listing of 4% of its stock, he explains.
Last year Dassault won new business worth $6 billion of which "only 8% came from the French government."
Exports continued to rise, reaching 92% of the total in 1998. Key among these was the United Arab Emirates FF33 billion ($5.3 billion) order for 30 new Mirage 2000-9 fighters and the updating of an existing 30 Mirage 2000-5s plus orders from the Greek government for 15 Mirage 2000-5 fighters and upgrading of 10 Mirage 2000s.
Deliveries of the initial batch of 64 Rafale fighters began last year and will continue into the next millennium. Under current procurement arrangements, Dassault hopes to re-equip the French navy and air force with a total of 294 Rafales.
Dassault is also working closely with a number of governments which it says are "extremely interested" in the new multi-role French fighter.
Elsewhere, the company has delivered 1,318 of its Falcon business jets since the family was first launched in 1963.
"We will continue to focus on the continuing success of our Falcon 50, 900 and 2000 models as business jets," says Dassault's chairman. The civil side had explored supersonic versions of the Falcon, he continues, "but we haven't found a suitable power unit. So, it's now on the back burner."
Source: Flight Daily News
