The Leonardo Company is taking the reigns of Kopter in Lafayette.
Lafayette obtained the Swiss-helicopter company in March. The new company, Leonardo, bought Kopter to strengthen its footing in the helicopter sector. Leonardo is an Italian aerospace and defense group.
A Kopter representative who spoke to KATC says that the company's plans to hire workers and build helicopters at the Lafayette facility haven't changed.
He could not confirm multiple media reports that say the facility will become Leonardo's official US production and service center.
On Tuesday, Leonardo signed a contract with Lynwood (Schweiz) AG to acquire 100% of Kopter Group AG (Kopter). According to a release, the move allows Leonardo to further strengthen its worldwide leadership and position in the rotorcraft sector; leveraging innovation, new capabilities and engineering skills which have been developed by the young, agile Swiss Company.
The purchase price consists of a $185 million fixed component plus an earn-out mechanism linked to certain milestones over the life of the program, starting from 2022. The closing of the transaction is subject to certain conditions and is expected to take place during the first quarter of 2020.
“By this deal we confirm our commitment to strengthening Leonardo’s core business and sustaining our leadership in key areas. With this acquisition, we will bring on board innovative skills and technologies that will complement our own and will also contribute to keeping us at the forefront of innovation and competitiveness whilst maintaining our financial solidity.," Alessandro Profumo, Leonardo CEO, said.
“Kopter is very excited to have won with Leonardo a solid industrial investor. Within Leonardo, we get the support to finalize our development on various fronts while keeping the ability to remain the agile single-engine pioneer that we are," Kopter’s CEO Andreas Loewenstein declared.
