Dubai Aerospace Enterprise clears first hurdle in purchase of US aviation businesses
18 May 2007
Washington DC, USA: US antitrust regulating agency, the Federal Trade Commission, have cleared the $1.8 billion sale of the Carlyle Group's aviation businesses to Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Ltd. The deal, however, still has to clear a review for its national security implications by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a body of the US Treasury.
Carlyle, a leading private equity firm, had announced last month that it had agreed to sell Standard Aero Holdings Inc., which overhauls engines and turbines used in small jets, and Landmark Aviation, an aircraft maintenance company, to state-owned Dubai Aerospace. The sale has cleared the first hurdle with the Federal Trade Commission announcing Thursday it had completed its review of the sale of both companies.
Carlyle, a leading private equity firm, had announced last month that it had agreed to sell Standard Aero Holdings Inc., which overhauls engines and turbines used in small jets, and Landmark Aviation, an aircraft maintenance company, to state-owned Dubai Aerospace. The sale has cleared the first hurdle with the Federal Trade Commission announcing Thursday it had completed its review of the sale of both companies.
The announcement ends a waiting period for the transaction. It, however, remains under review by the CFIUS, which is a group of agencies chaired by the Treasury Department that reviews foreign purchases of US companies for their security implications.
The transaction has escaped hostile scrutiny of a kind that a purchase last year of port operations at six US ports by state-owned, United Arab Emirates-based, Dubai Ports World had attracted.