Dassault Finds Buyers for Belgian Aeronautics Firm SABCA

Dassault Group has reached a deal to sell its 97 percent shareholding in SABCA to a new joint venture between Belgium’s sovereign wealth fund SFPI/FPIM and independent Belgian MRO provider Sabena Aerospace. In a statement released Friday, SABCA chairman and CEO Thibauld Jongen said the proposed acquisition offers a “very exciting perspective” for the future of the Brussels-based OEM that employs some 1,000 staff across three sites in Belgium and one facility in Casablanca, Morocco. The profile of the new shareholders, he asserted, “fits perfectly our needs for accelerating and intensifying the deployment of our strategic transformation plan initiated a few years ago. The new constellation creates a true aerospace leader in Belgium, with a strong position in civil aviation, defense, and space.”