Smith sells Aerospce warm £2bn deal

General Electric is to take over the aerospace division of UK industrial company Smiths in a deal worth £2.1bn (€3.2bn).

Smiths Aerospace – a secondary supplier of aircraft components such as landing gear parts and propellers – has 11 operations across the UK, including London, Southampton, Wolverhampton and Gloucester. It employs 11,000 staff.

The aerospace arm is one of four divisions in the Smiths Group, alongside Detection, Medical and Speciality Engineering.

Smiths chief executive Keith Butler-Wheelhouse said the decision to sell the aerospace arm was made last autumn.

He added: “The structure of the aerospace industry is changing – in particular its increased capital requirements and the growing importance of supplier scale, especially as the next generation of large programmes kicks in.”