VLJs (very light jets), small four to eight seater jets that have been creating a flutter in corporate America, have a new backer. Liquor baron Vijay Mallya is picking up a 50% stake in Epic Aviation, the Bend Oregon-based small aircraft manufacturer.
For the past two years, business aircraft circles, particularly in the US, have been bullish about the new planes that are being manufactured through disruptive technologies with new engines, avionics and materials.
Speaking to ET, he said “Epic is an outstanding global business opportunity as they have four world beater aircraft. There is a growing demand for business jets in the region, that we hope to tap,” Mr Mallya, a pilot with a multi-engined rating and close to 2,000 flying hours, flew the aircraft earlier last month. He refused to comment on the investment in the venture.
Epic has recently experienced an unprecedented surge in sales, booking orders more than $23 million at the Sun n Fun fly in April this year. It also sold aircraft worth $40 million three months later at AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, said a company release.
(Source: Economic Times
Showing posts with label US. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US. Show all posts
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
Tatas in race for Cadbury business
The Tata group is back to deal making in the US beverage market. The salt-to-software group is likely to submit a bid for Cadbury Schweppes’ US beverages business in an attempt to capture the hugely-successful Snapple range of fruit, diet drinks and iced teas.
The group is in talks with private equity funds which are interested in the beverages business and could join US giant Blackstone, Lion Capital as a minor partner in their consortium. The UK-headquarted Cadbury Schweppes is looking to offload the US beverage business as part of a global restructuring that will separate confectionery and beverage businesses.
The audacious move is part of the Tata group’s efforts to emerge as a big global player in its key businesses.Tata Tea has been expanding its portfolio and diversifying its product range in order to insulate itself from sluggish growth in core businesses like tea and coffee. In the past two years, the company has bought specialist tea maker Good Earth and coffee firm Eight O’ Clock Coffee in the US, before making an attempt for Glaceau, the maker of enhanced water products such as vitamin water and smart water.
The Tata group is not interested in the entire beverages portfolio which also includes brands like Dr Pepper. It is keen on Snapple though, a 35-year-old brand launched in the Greenwich village area of New York by three childhood friends in 1972. If the Blackstone consortium emerges as winner, the Tata group wants the right to carve out Snapple and make it a part of its portfolio. The group’s financial exposure in the deal is estimated to be just over $2 billion, which could be funded by own funds and some borrowings.
(Source: Economic Times)
The group is in talks with private equity funds which are interested in the beverages business and could join US giant Blackstone, Lion Capital as a minor partner in their consortium. The UK-headquarted Cadbury Schweppes is looking to offload the US beverage business as part of a global restructuring that will separate confectionery and beverage businesses.
The audacious move is part of the Tata group’s efforts to emerge as a big global player in its key businesses.Tata Tea has been expanding its portfolio and diversifying its product range in order to insulate itself from sluggish growth in core businesses like tea and coffee. In the past two years, the company has bought specialist tea maker Good Earth and coffee firm Eight O’ Clock Coffee in the US, before making an attempt for Glaceau, the maker of enhanced water products such as vitamin water and smart water.
The Tata group is not interested in the entire beverages portfolio which also includes brands like Dr Pepper. It is keen on Snapple though, a 35-year-old brand launched in the Greenwich village area of New York by three childhood friends in 1972. If the Blackstone consortium emerges as winner, the Tata group wants the right to carve out Snapple and make it a part of its portfolio. The group’s financial exposure in the deal is estimated to be just over $2 billion, which could be funded by own funds and some borrowings.
(Source: Economic Times)
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