The three partners intend to acquire 100% of Aubert & Duval through a new joint holding company that would be specifically set up for this transaction and in which they would have equal ownership rights, the companies say.
Aubert & Duval makes parts and materials for the aerospace, defence and nuclear industries, with annual revenues of approximately €500 million and a workforce of around 3,600 employees based mostly in France. It reportedly specialises in a variety of powder materials including superalloys and titanium.
According to Airbus and Safran, the acquisition would help them support the French aerospace industry supply chain in general.
“The planned acquisition will ensure national sovereignty for our most strategic programs for disruptive civil and military aircraft engines,” said Olivier Andriès, Safran CEO.
Safran will lead the operational management of the company, according to Andriès.
“Our sector, which has started to emerge from the COVID crisis, needs a solid partner to ramp up production while preparing next-generation technologies in aerospace,” said Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury. “[W]e aim to […] create, in the mid- to long-term, a leading European player able to face global competition as well as to reduce geopolitical risk of supply.”
