French aviation firm Lauak mulls sale as Lohia eyes global expansion

By Aaron Kirchfeld, Baiju Kalesh, Albertina Torsoli and Henrique Almeida

 

Lauak Groupe, the French family-owned supplier to aircraft manufacturers Airbus SE and Bombardier Inc., is exploring a full or partial sale to help fund global growth.

 

“All options are on the table,” Chief Executive Officer Mikel Charritton said in response to questions from Bloomberg. “We can imagine an investment fund that takes a minority stake or an industrial buying a majority stake.”  

 

The company in France’s Basque region is attracting interest from potential suitors including India’s Lohia Aerospace Systems, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential matters. Talks with Lohia, which makes composite products, highlight the Asian nation’s growing role in aircraft manufacturing.  

 

 

“We are in contact with various actors, investments funds, industrials, Americans, Europeans and Indians,” Charritton said in an interview, declining to comment on individual names. “Discussions are open, no decision has been made.”

 

Closely held Lauak makes aeronautic components, sub-assemblies and assemblies for major manufacturers including Safran SA and Collins Aerospace, according to its website. The company was founded in 1975 in Hasparren in southwest France by Jean-Marc Charritton. It has grown through investments and acquisitions to annual sales of €210 million ($239 million), 1,800 employees and 10 plants in countries including Portugal, Mexico, Canada and India. 

 

“We need to continue on the acquisition front and we need to continue growing abroad,” said Charritton, son of the company’s founder. “We want to grow our foreign subsidiaries, notably in Mexico and India, so-called low cost countries.”

 

US and European aircraft manufacturers are also looking for reliable alternatives to China amid a trade war, with India and Mexico poised to win new foreign investments. Western companies are increasingly sourcing aerospace supplies from India, which has an abundance of engineers and lower-cost production facilities. 

 

The potential deal comes amid reports that Indian industrial conglomerate Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. is in talks to buy Figeac Aero, another French aerospace provider with a market value of €328 million.

 

Lauak has done at least 8 acquisitions since its founding in 1975, according to the history page on its website

 

“We are a family-owned company and we are reaching the limits of the system, on how much we can ask our banking partners,” Charritton said. “If we want to continue growing, we need to open up our capital.”