Mubadala,Sikorsky Set Up $800M Aircraft Maintenance JV

20th Jul 2010 04:54

(This item was originally published Monday.) By Nour Malas and Jonathan Buck Of ZAWYA DOW JONES and DOW JONES NEWSWIRES DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Government-owned Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies, or ADAT, and U.S.-based Sikorksy Aerospace Services Monday announced an $800 million joint venture to set up a center in Abu Dhabi to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul, or MRO, services to military aircraft. The new venture will be called Ammroc--which stands for advanced military maintenance, repair and overhaul center--and will be funded with an initial aggregate investment that exceeds $800 million, ADAT said in a statement. ADAT is owned by Mubadala Development Co., the strategic investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government that is driving plans to set up a home-grown aerospace industry. The money will be used to complete a purpose-built complex at the international airport at Al Ain in Abu Dhabi, for training and to fund licenses with original-equipment manufacturers. More than 1,000 jobs are expected to be created in the United Arab Emirates during the first five years of operation. Future investment needs are expected to be funded from operations, ADAT Chairman Homaid Al Shemmari told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview. "We want to have an MRO center that addresses multiple regions and multiple platforms of manufacturing," said Shemmari. He added that the new venture would extend its offering to commercial carriers and he hoped it would become the world's No. 3 provider of maintenance services by 2020. The world leaders are Air France-KLM (AF.FR) and Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE). ADAT already provides MRO services to airlines from facilities in Abu Dhabi and in Zurich, Switzerland. It customers currently include U.K. low-cost carrier EasyJet PLC (EZJ.LN). Shemmari sees the provision of MRO work as an extension of its offerings in the aviation industry. "It is about creating a one-stop solution for our customers," he said. Partner Sikorsky Aerospace Services is the after-market business of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (UTX). -By Nour Malas and Jonathan Buck, Dow Jones Newswires; +9715 0 2890223; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 19, 2010 23:54 ET (03:54 GMT)