Mario Fonseca/RIO DE JANEIRO
Booming Brazilian airframer Embraer is to open a new manufacturing and flight test facility, part-funded by a share offer which should raise almost $500 million.
The regional aircraft specialist will build the new factory, its fourth site, at the remote township of Gavião Peixoto, 315km (195 miles) west of its headquarters in São José dos Campos. It also has a second site in São José and a plant at Botu Catu.
The expansion of existing sites is impossible due to airspace saturation and an absence of available land. With the new facility creating up to 4,500 jobs, its location caused much political wrangling.
Embraer, which will spend $150 million over five years on the construction of production lines and test installations including a 5,000m (16,000ft) runway, was wooed by the financial benefits of selecting a site in São Paulo state.
Occupying 1,415Ha (3,500 acres), the Gavião Peixoto plant will focus on military aircraft programmes and, possibly, the ECJ-135 corporate jet, freeing Sïo José for increased production of the ERJ-135/-140/-145 regional jet family and launch of the ERJ-170/ERJ-190 programme.
Embraer president Mauricio Botelho says Gavião Peixoto will concentrate on subassembly, testing and infrastructure work, with its runway employed for testing the upgraded F-5, the EMB-314 Super Tucano/ALX (of which at least 66 are due to be ordered by the Brazilian air force) and the planned FX future fighter.
Embraer's new share plan involves the public sale of 52.8 million new preferred shares, plus a further 31.2 million held by the Bozano, Simonsen/Sistel/Previ/ BNDESPar Group, reducing its preferred shareholding from 73.48% to 67.10%.
A total of 75.6 million shares will be offered as American Depositary Receipts, with the rest placed on the Brazilian stock exchange.
Although the offer's value has yet to be determined, Embraer should net around $488.4 million in cash to be used in building the new facility and the funding of the ERJ 170/190 programme, which requires investment totalling $850 million.
Source: Flight International
