Having been in administration since last year, Italian aircraft maker Piaggio Aerospace will not be broken up as a buyer is sought, according to a statement from Italian government Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio. The hope is that a buyer will be found for the whole, or one of its two divisions – engines or aircraft – both of which have production and maintenance capabilities.
May 15 had been set by Piaggio Aerospace’s extraordinary commissioner for non-binding expressions of interest. According to Reuters, 39 non-binding expressions had been received from potential buyers, 26 of which were for the company as a whole. Leonardo, the Italian defense group has expressed an interest, but only for the maintenance activities of the engine and aircraft divisions. However, this option has not been ruled out by Di Mayo, despite confirming “What I don’t want is a break-up of this company.”
Formerly known as Piaggio Aero Industries and founded in 1884, Piaggio Aerospace is one of the world’s oldest aircraft manufacturers. The company is currently 100 percent owned by the Abu Dhabi-based Mubala Development Company. Piaggio Aerospace requested it be placed into receivership on November 22, 2018, having declared itself insolvent only a year after Mubala had injected €255 million (US$308 million) and repurchased its bank debt.
