In a phone call to Flying, Cirrus Aircraft president Brent Wouters said that the deal would give Chinese firm China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Company (CAIGA) 100 percent ownership of Cirrus. Financial details of the merger weren’t immediately released pending notification of shareholders. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and would take effect, Wouters said, tentatively by the middle of the year.
CAIGA, Wouters said, is a subsidiary of AVIC, which has greatly increased its general aviation holdings in the United States in recent months, including the acquisition of leading piston engine manufacturer Continental Motors from Teledyne. Wouters was emphatic that the deal would not mean a transfer of manufacturing or jobs to China, a situation, he said, that made no business sense. “Jobs and jobs growth,” he said, “will remain in Duluth and Grand Forks.”
