Textron to sell Bell?

[Brian Abraham]

The Star-Telegram did have a story where the Textron CEO Lewis Campbell told an investment conference on Tuesday that the corporation may have to sell either Cessna or Bell Helicopter to cover losses by its financial arm. The page has now disappeared into the ether (although if you check "related stories" half way down the page right side you can see a link to "Textron considers selling Bell Helicopter") to be replaced by this,

Textron draws down $3 billion bank line | Business | Star-Telegram.com (http://www.star-telegram.com/business/story/1188186.html)

Wonder what the real state of play is?

[Trans Lift]

Any truth to the rumours? Heard it today from a fairly reliable source..........

[IFMU]

Then Nick would be back at Sikorsky!

-- IFMU

[Tango and Cash]

Rumor of the week at Bell... next week it will be Agusta buying Bell.

[Hilife]

Don’t you just love rumours? Three weeks ago I was told AW (Finmeccanica) had already bought Bell.

[Variable Load]

Maybe it's Bristow buying Bell. Or has that been done already in the "I heard a rumour about Bristow" thread that went no-where a short while ago. :ugh:

[ferrydude]

not a good fit, although UTC is in buying mode and Textron is in selling mode

[Spunk]

Hmmm, I always wanted to have my very own helicopter production line.... What's the asking price? :}

[SASless]

That would be a marriage made in heaven!

Imagine trying to meld the two design philosophies!

[Doors Off]

That would be easy, Bell's design Philosophy went out in about 1963:=

[Hilife]

Plugging the gap between the S-434 and the S-76D with the 429 would enable entry into the lucrative light twin Law Enforcement/EMS/Utility market and the 407 would allow for a shot at ARH, but I can’t see SAC getting too excited about the rest of the Bell inventory. They could of course sell off the tilt-rotor division to AW.

[SASless]

Just how much of this lucrative light twin market does Bell have currently?

[BedakSrewet]

Bell has been in hibernation -as far as R&D on heicopters is concerned- for 35+ years since the Shah of Iran paid for the 214 / 214ST.

It would appear that R&D has been focused on the tilt rotor, and only various ( inflated ) body variants of the -mid 60's designed- 206 have been launched since with limited success, as well as 2 MR blades have been exchanged for 4 MR blades on the 206 and 212.

Meanwhile the competition has moved ahead which is clearly evident from the market share statistics.....:bored:

[GeorgeMandes]

Thomson Reuters
UPDATE 2-Sikorsky head calls Bell combination 'interesting'
03.12.09, 07:11 PM EDT

By Scott Malone

NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) - The head of United Technologies Corp's Sikorsky helicopter unit told an investor meeting on Thursday a combination with Textron Inc's Bell helicopter unit would be 'an interesting hypothesis.'
But his boss, United Tech's chief executive, would not go so far as to say the diversified U.S. manufacturer was pursuing that business.

'We'll see what the market brings to us,' CEO Louis Chenevert told reporters. 'We always have our eyes on the properties that are core to us.'

When asked about the possibility of such a deal, Jeffrey Pino, who serves as president of Sikorsky, had said the mix of products between the two businesses could be appealing.

'It's an interesting hypothesis; why don't we just go with that? We study all competitors in terms of what would a consolidation look like,' Pino said.

A spokesman for Textron was not able to provide immediate comment.

United Tech officials said the company aims to do about $2 billion in takeovers this year and repeated that they would be aggressive in pursuing opportunities in a down economy.

Providence, Rhode Island-based Textron last month slashed its dividend 91 percent as it moves to save money in the face of a severe economic downturn that has pounded its finance arm.

On Feb. 10, Textron Chief Executive Lewis Campbell told an investor meeting he would consider selling one of the company's core business units if it needed to do so to protect cash flow, although he argued it was unlikely it would need to make such a drastic move.

'We probably won't have to think about selling any of our core assets. But notice I use the word 'probably,'' Campbell said last month.

[Arnie Madsen]

Bloomberg News

Shares of Textron Inc., parent company of Fort Worth-based Bell Helicopter, rose sharply in trading Thursday morning after Kuwait’s Al-Watan newspaper reported that a United Arab Emirates group is preparing to buy the company.

Textron shares rise on report of possible sale | Top Stories | Star-Telegram.com (http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1308843.html)

[21stCen]

It's time to finally shake things up...

[Matari]

Lockheed is also in the mix:

Lockheed eyes Textron unit (http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D97F4IA82.htm)