Britain's Rolls-Royce to take control of Aero Engine Control after purchasing JV partner's stake | WPN World People News

Global power systems major Rolls-Royce is set acquire the stake of its US-based partner Goodrich in Aero Engine Controls, a major UK engineering business, to take control of the joint venture company set up in January 2009.

Aero Engine Controls (AEC), which employs around 1,400 people in Birmingham, Derby, Belfast and Indianapolis in the US, combines the engine controls businesses of Rolls and US aerospace major Goodrich.

The UK-based Rolls has reached an agreement with the United Technologies Corp, the US aerospace and building technology conglomerate, which is in the process of acquiring Goodrich. No value has been placed on the deal.

The acquisition of 50% stake held by Goodrich will give Rolls full ownership "of a critical capability that confers competitive advantage," it said in a statement on Friday morning.

AEC designs and manufactures engine control systems including electronic engine controllers, fuel pumps and fuel metering units for a wide range of Rolls-Royce engines and a number of other programmes.

"The acquisition of the remainder of the shares in AEC by Rolls-Royce will only proceed once the acquisition of Goodrich by UTC is complete and once any necessary antitrust approvals are obtained," the statement said.

Rolls said that the transaction will have no material impact on its current-year financial performance.

The move comes as Aero Engines prepares for its move to a purpose-built research, design, development and manufacturing facility at Birmingham Business Park, Solihull, being set up with an 60 million pounds investment.

West Midlands acility is expected to be operational in 2014.

In the UK alone, the company spends 65 million pounds a year sourcing new materials, parts and services to manufacture its systems for the aerospace sector.

Source: Britain News.Net