| Industry: |
Aerostructures |
| Investment date: |
June 2005 |
| Acquired by: |
Onex Partners I |
| Investment: |
$375 million(1) /
$108 million from Onex |
| Ownership: |
16% / Onex’ portion is 4%
(excluding Management Investment Plan shares) |
| Status: |
Public / Partially realized |
| Listed: |
NYSE: SPR |
| Shares held by Onex: |
6.0 million, excluding shares held in connection with the Management Investment Plan |
| Onex Partners I shares subject to a carried interest: |
11.9 million |
| Value realized to date: |
$2.5 billion(1) /
$756 million by Onex |
| Head office: |
Wichita, Kansas |
| Annual revenues (2011): |
$4.9 billion |
| Website: |
www.spiritaero.com |
(1) Includes co-investment from certain limited partners of Onex Partners I.
The amounts above include Onex’ share of the carried interest and are net of any payments under the Management Investment Plan.
Spirit AeroSystems, Inc. is one of the world’s largest independent suppliers of large component parts and assemblies for commercial aircraft, based on annual revenues. The company offers not only a highly skilled workforce but also industry-leading manufacturing and design expertise on a broad range of products and services for aircraft original equipment manufacturers and operators in North America and Europe.
The business was previously a captive division of The Boeing Company. Spirit AeroSystems has long-term agreements to supply Boeing with fuselage sections, struts and nacelles, and wing elements on its 737, 747, 767, 777 and 787 commercial aircraft platforms. Spirit AeroSystems’ acquisition of the Aerostructures unit of BAE Systems in the United Kingdom added Airbus as a significant new customer.
More detail is available in our
case study.
Spirit AeroSystems – Case Study
Carve-out of the world’s largest aerostructures company.
In May 2004, we learned that Boeing Corporation was embarking on a limited auction process for its Wichita and Tulsa operations, the company’s largest internal supplier. Boeing chose Onex as a partner because of our success in acquiring captive divisions from large multinationals and transforming them into standalone businesses. We completed the $1.5 billion acquisition, which we renamed Spirit AeroSystems, Inc., in June 2005 after more than a year of diligence, planning and negotiations.
Spirit AeroSystems is one of the world’s largest independent supplier of structures for commercial aircraft. Onex worked closely with management and unions to help realize substantial cost savings and reorganized work practices. We also helped to forge long-term supply agreements with Boeing under which Boeing continues to exclusively source all the products and services previously supplied for the 737, 747, 767, 777 and new 787 platforms. In April 2006, Spirit AeroSystems acquired the Aerostructures unit of BAE Systems in the United Kingdom, diversifying its revenue base and adding Airbus as a significant new customer.
In November 2006, Onex worked with Spirit AeroSystems to complete an initial public offering of 63.4 million shares for gross proceeds of $1.65 billion. Spirit AeroSystems issued approximately 10.4 million new shares while Onex, Onex Partners I and certain limited partners sold 48.3 million shares. In May 2007, Spirit AeroSystems completed a secondary offering of 34.3 million shares, raising a further $1.26 billion. Onex, Onex Partners I and certain limited partners sold 31.8 million shares in that offering for net proceeds of $1.1 billion. This brings the total value realized to date by Onex and Onex Partners I from Spirit AeroSystems to approximately $2.2 billion. In addition, Onex, Onex Partners I and certain limited partners continue to hold 32.4 million shares of Spirit AeroSystems with a value at December 31, 2010 of about $674 million.
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