Why Hawker Beechcraft's China Sale Was Dead on Arrival

Why Hawker Beechcraft’s China Sale Was Dead on Arrival

Stephen Pope

Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 06:54 PM ET

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Key Takeaways:

The planned sale of Hawker Beechcraft to Superior Aviation Beijing fell through, deemed unlikely from the outset due to Superior's unknown background and questionable financial capabilities.
The deal's failure was evident long before the official announcement, indicated by unanswered calls, vague PR responses, and a cancelled meeting with a Wichita trade delegation in China.
Superior Aviation Beijing's limited financial resources and relatively small scale (primarily focused on Brantly helicopters) raised significant concerns about their ability to complete the large acquisition.
Hawker Beechcraft is expected to emerge from bankruptcy independently, under the Beechcraft name.

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I’d planned on telling you today all the reasons why I felt Hawker Beechcraft’s planned sale to Superior Aviation Beijing was very likely on the verge of unraveling. I’ll still do that, but the story took on a new dimension when a press release from Hawker Beechcraft arrived in my e-mail inbox at 8:05 this morning proclaiming the deal was dead.

I’d argue that the deal was actually dead on arrival, way back in July, when Superior Aviation Beijing stepped forward with an offer to buy the struggling Wichita company for $1.79 billion. The reasons are pretty simple: Nobody had ever heard of Superior Aviation Beijing, and nobody seriously thought this company was actually going to write a check of that gargantuan size, even if it could. A closer look at Superior’s financials reveals that it probably could not.