EADS subsidiary Astrium has announced it will buy the space division of German optics company Jenoptik Group, after outbidding “several international aerospace companies”.
Although the value of the deal was not disclosed, Jenoptik indicated that the…
EADS subsidiary Astrium has announced it will buy the space division of German optics company Jenoptik Group, after outbidding “several international aerospace companies”.
Although the value of the deal was not disclosed, Jenoptik indicated that the transaction would allow it to reduce its net debt to below ?100m. In a financial report for the six months of 2010, the company explained that its net debt was standing at ?144m. But the company said in a statement that the liquidity inflows from the sale of shares in mechanical contractor Caverion in August as well as “the active management of working capital and receivables also contribute to a reduction in net debt”.
Jena-Optronik, which specialises in space sensors and optical systems for various platforms including Earth observation (EO) satellites, contributed about ?30m to the sales of Jenoptik in 2009.
Jenoptik said that it would use the proceeds of the sale to reduce its debt but also to expand its global presence, notably in North America and Asia, but also to focus on “major projects as well as targeted smaller acquisitions”.
In the statement, Evert Dudok, CEO of Astrium Satellites said: “The acquisition of Jena-Optronik will ensure that Astrium continues to provide our institutional and commercial customers with a variety of high-quality optical systems and meet the growing demand for advanced EO satellites. The German government invests considerably in observation satellites and we are proud to further develop our industrial competences in this field.” The transaction requires the approval of European antitrust authorities. Jena-Optronik will be owned by Astrium but will remain an independent German company with its individual brand. Freshfields provided legal advice to Astrium while White & Case is believed to have acted as legal adviser for Jenoptik.
In recent months, Astrium has made several similar moves.
Last July, it formed a Greek remote sensing subsidiary called Spot Infoterra Hellas. The company will be 81% owned by Astrium via its earth observation division Spot Infoterra and 19% by the founders of Greek geo-information specialist Geomet.
Astrium also recently merged its remote sensing subsidiaries Spot Image and Infoterra into a single division. The combined company is estimated to have generated 2009 revenues of approximately US$189m, a 6% year-on-year increase. Astrium acquired Spot Image, which owns two satellites and had ordered two more birds, Spot Image 6 and 7, in mid-2008 from the French space agency CNES.
