Bellevue, Wash. — Esterline Corp., a specialty manufacturer serving aerospace and defense markets, has entered into exclusive negotiations with Sagard Private Equity Partners and other shareholders to acquire the Souriau Group, a supplier of highly-engineered connectors for harsh environments based in Versailles, France.
Esterline will pay about $715 million at current exchange rates to acquire all the outstanding stock of Souriau. Completion of the transaction is expected in July 2011.
Souriau, which targets the aerospace, defense and space, power generation and rail, and industrial equipment markets, is expected to grow Esterline’s Sensors & Systems segment by category, customer and geography, particularly in France, where the company has facilities in Bourges, Niort and Sarralbe.
Souriau’s aeronautics business, which represents approximately 35 percent of its total business, focuses on both commercial and military fixed and rotary wing aircraft, weapons delivery systems and avionics. The company’s defense and space business, which represents approximately 30 percent of total revenues, manufactures connectors primarily for satellite, missile, and communications systems, while its power generation and rail business, which represents approximately 15 percent of revenues, serves the nuclear power, railway, and geophysics markets.
The company’s industrial equipment business, which represents approximately 20 percent of total revenues, serves the automation, medical equipment and autosport markets. Major customers include ABB, Airbus, Alstom, Astrium, AREVA, BAE Systems, Boeing, Bombardier, Dassault, EADS, Embraer, Faiveley, Goodrich, Honeywell, Kongsberg, Liebherr, MBDA, MHI, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Safran, Sukhoi, Thales, Rolls Royce, Schlumberger and Westinghouse.