Hexcel Corp. recently announced that it has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire all of the shares of Structil SA, a French producer and supplier of high-performance composites to the aerospace, defense, and industrial markets. The proposed transaction is subject to review by relevant employee representative bodies and approval from the applicable French authorities. Assuming those reviews and approvals are successfully completed, the acquisition is expected to close in 2017.

Structil is a joint venture between Safran Ceramics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Safran, and Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (formerly Mitsubishi Rayon Corp.). The company employs approximately 70 people at a 68,000-sq-ft production plant on a seven-acre site in Vert-le-Petit, France, about 25 miles south of Paris. With sales of approximately $21 million in 2016, Structil’s product lines include prepregs, structural adhesives and pultruded profiles used in engine nacelles, aerospace interiors, military jets, and more.

“The project proposed by Hexcel would make Structil an integral part of the strategy applied by a global leader in advanced composites, with solid experience in production, widely recognized by its customers, especially in France, where it invests regularly,” said Gerard Frut, Safran Ceramics’ CEO. “It offers an excellent technological and industrial fit with Structil, which will immediately benefit from the new environment offered by Hexcel to catalyze its development.”

“By combining Structil’s advanced composites product portfolio of prepregs, adhesives and pultrusions with ours, this acquisition would further enhance our product offerings to our customers in aerospace and industrial, providing an expanded choice of advanced composite solutions,” said Nick Stanage, Hexcel’s chairman, CEO and president. “The integration of the Structil team would also further strengthen our development capability and technologies for next-generation aerospace and industrial applications. Hexcel is a Safran First Circle supplier, and this project will further reinforce our strong 30-year-long partnership.”

For more information, visit www.hexcel.com.