Beechcraft joins Cessna under Textron control

Textron, the corporate owner of Cessna aircraft has reached a deal to buy the GA and light jet manufacturer's competitor BeecH Holdings, the manufacturer of Beechcraft aircraft including the top selling King Air family
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Reports suggest the deal is worth $1.4 billion.

According to Bloomberg, Beechcraft had revived an auction process a year after its deal to sell itself to a Chinese jetmaker collapsed. It had drawn takeover interest from at least three suitors, including Brazil’s Embraer India’s Mahindra and Textron.
The Financial Times reported Dec. 20 that Textron was close to a deal for Beechcraft. Squeezed by waning private-jet demand and a drop in U.S. arms spending, the former Hawker Beechcraft filed for bankruptcy in May 2012. The Wichita, Kansas-based company left court protection in February 2013 and exited the jet business.
“This creates a broader selection of aircraft and a larger service footprint -- all sharing the same high standards of quality and innovation,” Textron Chairman and CEO Scott C. Donnelly said in the company’s statement.
Beech started business in 1932, and it has supplied training aircraft for military pilots dating to World War II. Beechcraft said it saw a rebound in demand in 2013. According to GAMA, deliveries of multi-engine turboprops rose 42 percent in the first nine months of 2013 from a year earlier and single-engine turboprops were up 10 percent. Piston-engine planes rose 7.9 percent, while business jet shipments fell 2.1 percent.

PICTURED: Beechcraft's King Air family at last year's MEBA show