Eurocopter Romania takes off in September

Eurocopter France will hold 51% in the newly established Eurocopter Romania SA, founded together with IAR Ghimbav. Half of this company’s operations will aim at producing helicopters for export, Jean-Francois Bigay, chairman of Eurocopter France told Ziarul Financiar on Tuesday.

Eurocopter chairman did not specify the amount to be invested in the new company where it is the main shareholder or the value of the share capital the company would have. An audit at IAR Ghimbav is currently in progress and the investments’ level will be settled depending on the results.

He said that the first investment would amount to “tens of millions of francs”. According to some previous information, released in magazines dealing with defence issues, Eurocopter Romania might have 300-400 million dollars in start-up capital.

Premier Adrian Nastase said that the establishment of this company “is directly related to IAR Ghimbav privatisation.” “It is very important that we should team up with Eurocopter for a productive line, which guarantees the jobs and the technology transfer,” Prime Minister specified after the shareholding agreement was signed on the occasion of French Premier Lionel Jospin’s visit in Romania.

Eurocopter Romania will start operating in September, while the industrial activities will begin during the last quarter of this year. Jean-Francois Bigay said that the company would produce EC 135 helicopters, which have been produced in Germany for 4 years.

The upgrading of Puma helicopters, currently ongoing in France, will be transferred in Brasov. According to Eurocopter chairman, the production for the export would aim at Central Europe market if the helicopters are entirely manufactured in Brasov and at the international market if Eurocopter Romania produces only the parts to be assembled in France.

When an offer for purchasing the main stock in IAR Ghimbav was launched last year, Eurocopter was the only one to submit a bid. Eurocopter is a subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) and the third leading aircraft producer in the world.

The privatisation process of the Romanian helicopter maker was resumed in 1999, after the deal with US-based Bell Helicopters fell through, as the bid it submitted implied the acquisition of 96 new helicopters worth about 2 billion dollars by the Romanian State.