Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE: SPR) has agreed to buy Asco Industries’ Belgium-based parent company, S.R.I.F., for approximately $650 million in cash.
Wichita, Kan.-based Spirit said Wednesday it expects to use new debt to fund the transaction that is scheduled to conclude in the second half of 2018, pending regulatory clearances and other customary closing conditions.
Tom Gentile, Spirit AeroSystems president and CEO, said the acquisition would help the company build up its fabrication business and expand work on the F-35 aircraft and Airbus A320 and A350 wing programs.
Gentile noted that Asco CEO Christian Boas will remain with the company after the deal’s closure.
Spirit works with Bell Helicopter to develop the composite fuselage for the V-280 Valor aircraft in support of the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift program.
Asco supplies high lift wing structures, functional components and mechanical assemblies to original equipment manufacturers in military and commercial aerospace markets. The company has approximately 1,400 employees across four production facilities in Belgium, Germany, Canada and Stillwater, Okla., and expects to record $400 million in 2018 revenue.
Methuselah Advisors and Goldman Sachs & Co. served as Spirit’s financial advisers, while Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Stibbe acted as the company’s legal advisers.
Lazard advised S.I.R.F. and Asco on the deal’s financial aspect, while Eubelius and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP acted as legal advisers to both firms.
