SNECMA's Bechat Would Have Been Ready to Acquire GE/Honeywell Spin-Offs

The merger of GE and Honeywell may be all but dead, but Snecma, the $930 million French national engine and equipment maker, would have been "ready and willing" to acquire some GE/Honeywell spin-offs, if they had been a good fit, according to the Jean-Paul Bechat, Snecma's president and director general.

Snecma's plan, formulated by Bechat five years ago when he assumed CEO duties, is to grow the firm at a "normal, not explosive" rate. Long term, Bechat wants to continue controlled growth by concentrating on mergers with and acquisitions of other French aerospace firms.

He hastened to add that, "not one franc has been received" from Snecma's sole shareholder, the French government, to finance acquisitions during the last ten years. "We have no access to the French treasury", Bechat said. All acquisitions in the past decade have been, and in the future will be, financed internally.

With several European governments moving to privatize state-owned aerospace industries, Bechat was asked if the French government would privatize Snecma.

"Our shareholder is happy, we're paying good dividends. Only our shareholder can decide what he'll do with his money. I can't speak for the French government," Bechat commented.

France has reason to hold onto Snecma as an investment. Last year, with the acquisition of Hurel-Dubois and Hispano-Suiza, the firm's revenues grew by 16% and its net income jumped 23%.

By Fred George