By David Carnevali and Anirban Sen
(Reuters) – Textron Inc, the manufacturer of Bell helicopters and Cessna jets, has revived efforts it ended four years ago to sell a business that makes fuel tanks for cars and is worth in excess of $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The fuel systems business faces headwinds as the car industry pivots from combustion to electric engines. Textron has been focusing on its aviation business, making investments such as the $238 million acquisition of electric aircraft maker Pipistrel in 2022.
Textron has hired JPMorgan Chase & Co to run a sale process for the unit, which is called Kautex, the sources said. It said in 2019 it had decided to keep Kautex after exploring a sale or a spin-off with advice from Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
The sources cautioned that a deal is once again not certain and asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. Textron and JPMorgan declined comment.
Headquartered in Bonn, Germany, Kautex sits within Textron’s industrial business and contributed about $1.8 billion to the company’s total revenue of $12.8 billion in 2022.
It operates more than 30 plants in 13 countries, producing fuel tanks and other components used in the manufacturing of parts of vehicles such as windscreens, headlamps and advanced driver assistance systems.
Textron shares are down 6% year to-date, underperforming a 14% rise in the S&P 500 Index, as the company’s revenue has fallen short of investor expectations that it will capitalize on strong demand from the aviation industry amid a pick-up in travel.
Last year, private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc took Tenneco, a peer of Kautex, private for $7.1 billion, including debt.
(Reporting by David Carnevali and Anirban Sen in New York; Editing by Conor Humphries)