The Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corporation, manufacturer of the SJ30 light jet, announced a name change yesterday. Here at NBAA, Emirates Investment and Development Company (Emivest) of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, now the majority shareholder of Sino Swearingen, announced that Sino Swearingen will now be known as Emivest Aerospace Corp. Except for a huge influx of funds, the strong backing of its new investor and a new management team, nothing else has changed–at least not yet.
The new owner intends “to infuse new energy into the company” and bring the SJ30 into large-scale production, according to Anthony Power, acting CEO, but right now the new management team is evaluating options regarding the operation.
Emivest owns 80 percent of Emivest Aerospace, with the other 20 percent held by a number of shareholders, including its Taiwanese investor; Ed Swearingen, designer of the SJ30; and Doug Jaffe, one of the original investors.
Though discussions among Emivest and Sino Swearingen’s owners and management went on for about half a year before the transaction closed and the new management team has been in intense discussions ever since, few details of a plan emerged yesterday. “We’re looking at all options right now,” said Power. Nor would he reveal how much money Emivest has put into the company.
However, when the deal was announced in June, Emivest reported it would pump a minimum of $150 million into the aircraft manufacturer to restart and accelerate production of the SJ30. So far, two SJ30s have been delivered since the twinjet obtained FAA certification in November 2006. Sino Swearingen claimed orders for about 300 SJ30s. Power claimed that most of Sino’s buyers have stuck with the company, with orders for some 200 aircraft still there.
Buti Saeed Al Ghandi, chairman of both Emirate Investment and Development Company PSC and Emivest Aerospace Corp., had intended to be at the press conference, but his flight was delayed. He said in a press release, “Emivest’s board of directors have played a critical role in the company development, with their vast experience and skills in transforming our acquisitions into larger, more efficient and ultimately more profitable companies, which in turn makes them more valuable. This is Emivest’s aim for Sino Swearingen.”
An SJ30 is in Booth No. 5682.
