Carlyle prepares to sell aerospace and defence company Arinc: report

Private equity firm Carlyle Group is preparing to sell aerospace and defence company Arinc Inc and has hired JPMorgan Chase and Evercore Partners to advise on the sale process, media reports said today, citing three people familiar with the matter.

Carlyle had acquired the company in 2007 for an undisclosed sum, and a sale could fetch up to $1.5 billion, the report said.

Carlyle tried to sell Arinc in 2010 but scrapped the auction after potential buyers were not keen in acquiring the whole company on concerns that Arinc's government consulting services could create conflicts of interest.

But, after selling its defence systems engineering and support unit to Booz Allen last year, Arinc would be a much more attractive takeover target for aerospace and defence companies, the report said.

Maryland-based Arinc provides over 150 innovative engineering products to the aerospace and defence, aviation, airports, government, networks, security, and transportation industries.

Its products include air-to-ground communications and global data link systems, revolutionary battlefield visibility, critical national resource security, and also does reverse engineering of obsolete parts.

Since its founding in 1929, Arinc was owned by four major US airlines, including Boeing until it was sold to Carlyle 78 years later.