GE Aviation ready to look at acquisitions, eye on systems (updated)

Ge Power India

15/11/2021 18:48

(Adds quotes, details)
    DUBAI, Nov 15 (Reuters) - GE Aviation is ready to look at
acquisitions if needed to bring in complementary technologies
capable of shaping the future of flight, without waiting for a
planned break-up of its parent General Electric  GE.N , its top
executive said on Monday.
    "(If there is) alignment with our strategic goals and
assuming that the business case makes sense, we are open to look
at opportunities," GE Aviation Chief Executive John Slattery
told Reuters.
    "I want to be clear that our opportunities to be strategic
in the market place are effective today," he said in an
interview at the Dubai Airshow, adding such opportunities
"probably run deeper and wider" in systems than in jet engines.
    However, he stressed GE Aviation felt under "no pressure" to
make external investments.
    General Electric (GE) last week announced plans to spin off
its businesses into three public companies, marking the end of
the 129-year-old conglomerate.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2S02VG
    The Boston-based company will separate the healthcare
company in early 2023. It will combine GE Renewable Energy, GE
Power and GE Digital and spin off the business in early 2024.
    Following the split, it will become an aviation company,
helmed by Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Culp. 
    The aviation company will inherit GE's other assets and
liabilities, including its runoff insurance business.
    Slattery said GE Aviation had not been placed under any
restrictions by Culp or the board limiting its ability to look
at adjacent technologies "or other inorganic opportunities" as
long as they fit the strategy and had a good business case.
    "If they do, we are not time-bound in terms of waiting until
the spin-offs occur," Slattery said.
    "When I think about our franchise footprint in commercial
aviation, in military aviation and now increasingly in our
systems business, those are the areas I want to continue to
grow," he added.
    "I think it is probably fair to say the opportunities to
broaden the aperture ... probably run deeper and wider in our
systems business than they would in inorganic (acquisition)
opportunities on the commercial or military engine front."
    Analysts say high-tech systems and associated technologies
are key to the future of aircraft which will see a more seamless
integration between powerplants and airframes than in the past.
    GE Aviation's main competitor in engines for in-demand
narrowbody commercial jet engines and in military jet engines,
Pratt & Whitney, is part of the Raytheon Technologies  RTX.N 
conglomerate that combines a broad slate of aircraft systems.
    In the past three years, Culp has focused on reducing debt
by selling assets, and improving cash flows by streamlining
operations and cutting overhead costs. 
    After a $30 billion deal in March to merge GE's jet-leasing
unit with Ireland's AerCap  AER.N , Culp said GE would look to
"play more offense" to grow its industrial business.
    Since then, the company has pursued "bolt-on" acquisitions
in the healthcare space.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2QP25O    

 (Reporting by Tim Hepher and Rajesh Kumar Singh
Editing by David Evans and Mark Potter
)
 ((tim.hepher@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 54 52; Reuters
Messaging: tim.hepher.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))