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October 1, 2019

Cheshire aeroparts maker sold for $300M

Photo | EDAC Technologies Cheshire aeroparts maker EDAC Technologies is headquartered at 5 McKee Place.
By Gregory Seay

A South Korean gas-turbine maker and a New York manufacturing equity investor have acquired Cheshire aeroparts maker EDAC Technologies for $300 million.

Seoul-based Hanwha Aerospace and Greenbriar Equity Group, of Rye, N.Y., announced Tuesday completion of their acquisition of EDAC, first announced in June. EDAC now officially operates under the Hanwha name, officials said.

Hanwha Aerospace CEO Hyunwoo Shin said EDAC’s proximity to Hanwha’s existing North American customers was the deal’s main impetus.

EDAC specializes in design and production services for commercial and military  jet-engine parts, and provides special tooling, equipment, gauges and components used to make, assemble and inspect  jet engines.

EDAC was an early recipient of Connecticut economic-development incentives aimed at attracting/retaining qualified employers, who in return pledged to retain or expand employment.

The Malloy administration agreed to award EDAC through the state's "First Five Plus" incentive program with $48 million, including a $10 million grant and $38 million loan to purchase machinery and equipment and add 200 jobs in the state.

A spokesman for the state Department of Economic and Community Development, which oversees the program, said that contractually EDAC's new owner is responsible for repayment on the $38 million outstanding aid-loan, the first payment on which is due in Dec. 2021.  Of that sum, $28 million is eligible for forgiveness, if EDAC meets specific hiring and job-retention targets, the spokesman said.

EDAC isn’t Greenbriar’s first Connecticut investment. In April 2017, Greenbriar staked an unspecified sum in The Whitcraft Group, an Eastford aeroparts manufacturer. 

Whitcraft also owns Connecticut Tool & Manufacturing in Plainville, which produces flight safety parts, complex assemblies and other products, and Berkshire Manufactured Products Inc., a Newburyport, Mass., parts provider to aerospace, medical, high tech, and communications customers.

Hanwha Aerospace is a unit of Seoul-based Hanwha Group, one of Korea’s leading industrial conglomerates with revenues of more than $44 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

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