Spanish engineering firm Sener has acquired an indirect 26.5% shareholding in engine manufacturer Industria de Turbo Propulsores (ITP) from Spanish state holding company SEPI for €66 million ($80 million), writes Rainer Uphoff in Madrid.
ITP is a risk-sharing and contract partner for several major engine programmes, including the Rolls-Royce Trent family of engines as well as the Honeywell AS900, plus military powerplants for the Eurofighter Typhoon and Airbus Military A400M.
Last December Sener exercised a preferential right to buy SEPI's stake in the joint holding company Turbo 2000, which owns 53% of ITP, and now effectively controls the company. Rolls-Royce owns the remaining 47% of ITP.
The 53% share package has now been transferred from Turbo 2000 to a newly constituted holding company, Sener Aeronautica, in which US investment company Lehman Brothers Private Equity has acquired an 18% holding. A further 10% has been acquired by Spanish risk capital fund Socade.
Sener says the new capital structure and the backing of Lehman Brothers and Socade are "very important", and adds: "We will continue to develop strongly ITP's research and development capacities, its production capacity and an increasing and balanced participation in civil and military markets." Lehman Brothers has been the adviser during the privatisation process.
Source: Flight International
