I guess it is no great secret that First Reserve really don't have any interest in aviation other than its perceived ability to make money. Unfortunately CHC was purchased before the current financial crisis, so I bet First Reserve are starting to feel a bit of pressure. Have a look around at the other companies they own and see how many of them are turning a profit right now. My guess is probably most have seen a reduction in share price and value over the last 12 months. First Reserve modus operandi is purely as an investment company - turning numbers, and make them bigger, then sell. Zero care for the company, its personnel, or anything else , as long as they can make a profit when they sell, it doesn't matter what they do to it.
Some of the CHC contracts are certainly struggling right now, and probably starting to cost for First Reserve. They will have in their business plan / investment plan a financial point at which they will ditch before it goes any lower, and this will mean selling. Where many companies would ride this out, I doubt any sensible investor would compromise their strategy if they were doing their job properly. I fear CHC will feel the effect of this soon, and we will see the demise of the organisation, and the selling off of business units piecemeal. I would definitely not be surprised if Bristow has their eye on this, and are waiting to capitalize, but it will all boil down to price. Will they want to take on the burden? Maybe they are looking to buy parts of CHC maybe not, but I am pretty sure CHC is about to be broken up, so this could be a strong contender.