The Wertheimer family has sold its 51% stake in Blades Technology International Inc. to US jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX), which already owns the other 49%. The terms and price of the transaction were not disclosed but estimates are that it is for hundreds of millions of shekels.
Stef Wertheimer founded Blades Technology as Iscar Blades in 1968, after France imposed an arms embargo in the wake of the Six-Day War, leaving Israel Air Force's mainly French combat aircraft without spare parts. It was a sister company of Iscar Ltd., which Wertheimer sold to Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A). The company, which was founded to supply the Israeli Air Force with spare parts is now a multinational that provides high quality components to major OEMs around the world.
Blades Technology International's units include Blades Technology Ltd. and Techjet Aerofoils Ltd. in Israel, Precision Component Inc. Georgia, and Xian Aero Technology Ltd. in China. Blades Technology manufactures 35-40% of all compressor and turbine blades and vanes for jet engines and industrial gas turbines in the world at its plant in Nahariya.According to BDI, its turnover in 2012 was some NIS 1 billion, and it has about 2,600 employees, 2,000 of them in Israel. Among its customers are jet engine manufacturers such as Rolls Royce, GE, Samsung, and others.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 1, 2014
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