Aerospace supplier HEICO to buy Wencor in deal valued at $2.05 billion

(Reuters) -Aerospace supplier HEICO Corp said on Monday it would buy Wencor Group in a deal valued at $2.05 billion, to boost its portfolio of generic parts.

HEICO shares hit a record high of about 6% at $176.41 in early trade.

HEICO will purchase Wencor from affiliates of Warburg Pincus LLC and Wencor’s management for $1.9 billion in cash and $150 million in HEICO Class A common stock, the company said.

The deal will be HEICO’s largest ever and comes at a time when airlines and aircraft repair shops in North America increasingly rely on used and generic parts to keep jets flying, as rising costs and ongoing supply-chain shortages disrupt the aerospace industry.

“The Wencor acquisition materially expands HEICO’s aftermarket product offerings,” HEICO CEO Laurans Mendelson said in a statement.

The statement added that the transaction is expected to close by the end of the 2023 calendar year.

Wencor’s parts and repairs are found in hydraulic, pneumatic, electronic and electro-mechanical cockpit and galley systems across numerous aircraft models.

(Reporting by Priyamvada C and Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)