Woodward, a supplier of aircraft and industrial parts, has agreed to merge with composites manufacturing company Hexcel in an all-stock transaction that would create a $6.4B integrated systems provider to the aerospace and defense sectors.
Hexcel said Sunday that its chairman, president and CEO Nick Stanage will lead the combined company, which will be called Woodward Hexcel and headquartered in Fort Collins, Colo.
Tom Gendron — chairman, president and CEO of Woodward — will serve as executive chairman of the new entity until its first anniversary, then he will transition to a new role as non-executive chairman.
Both parties expect to wrap up the transaction by the third quarter and invest $250M in research and development projects through the combination to harness the potential emerging technology to improve energy efficiency, propulsion and aerodynamic systems for aircraft.
The new firm will have approximately 16K workers and manufacturing operations across five continents.
Shareholders in Woodward will own 55 percent of the combined entity and Hexcel shareholders will hold the remaining 45 percent.
Goldman Sachs serves as Hexcel’s financial adviser and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz acts as its legal counsel in the deal. J.P. Morgan Securities and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is the financial adviser and legal counsel of Woodward, respectively.
