GE Capital Aviation Services To Buy Milestone Aviation Group For $1.775 Bln

(RTTNews) - GE Capital Aviation Services, the aircraft leasing unit of General Electric Company (GE), announced that it agreed to acquire Milestone Aviation Group, the Dublin-based helicopter lessor, for $1.775 billion.

The company satated that Richard Santulli will serve as chairman of the helicopter leasing business and will become an officer of GE. Milestone president Daniel Rosenthal will serve as president of the business, which will continue to operate as "Milestone Aviation Group." Fellow Milestone co-founding executives John Burns, Robert Thor Dranitzke and Matthew Harris will continue in their current roles, as will the rest of the Milestone team.

The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is targeted to close in 2015.

In a separate press release, GE said that its Intelligent Platforms business had received a $2.6 million order from BAE Systems Platforms and Services for a quantity of its latest generation 3U VPX COTS Rugged Systems that deliver an advanced HPEC (High Performance Embedded Computing) capability. The COTS Rugged Systems will be deployed as part of the US Army's CETU (Common Embedded Training Unit) which sees in-vehicle training and simulation incorporated into the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.