Airbus Invests €40 Million ($53 Million) In The New SME Support Fund

Airbus, the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations Entreprises, Safran group, EADS and Eurocopter have set up ‘Aerofund 3’, an investment fund set up to raise €150 million for the French aeronautical sector. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed Friday at Airbus’ Jean-Luc Lagardère site in Toulouse (A380 Final Assembly Line), in the presence of Arnaud Montebourg, French Minister for Productive Recovery and Frédéric Cuvillier, French Secretary of State in charge of Transport.

The goal of the investment fund, run by ACE Management, is to prolong ‘Aerofund 2’ which was set up in 2008 to support the development of subcontractor SMEs and Intermediate-sized enterprises working in the aeronautical sector, and promote the growth and emergence of businesses capable of positioning themselves as key partners in aeronautics.
 
The target is to raise a total of €300 million (nearly $404 million) for this fund. With ‘Aerofund 1’ in 2004 and ‘Aerofund 2’ in 2008, nearly €105 million ($141 million) have already been injected into the aeronautical sector, making it possible to provide backing for 22 companies, representing a total turnover of €1.6 billion ($2.15 billion) and supporting nearly 15,000 jobs. This support is essential at a time when the aeronautical sector must make considerable investments if it is to face up to its current and future programmes, and constantly growing production workloads.
 
“With ‘Aerofund 3’, Airbus is pursuing its policy of supporting innovative companies in the aviation sector. We are proud of this because, alongside the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations Entreprises in particular, we are actively contributing to the growth of these companies, and thus to the creation of jobs that this will lead to in our sector,” said Fabrice Brégier, Airbus’ President and CEO.
 
Airbus’ contribution to Aerofund 3 amounts to €40 million ($53.87 million), the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations Entreprises is contributing €60 million (nearly $81 million), Safran Group €30 million ($40.4 million), and EADS and Eurocopter €10 million ($13.4 million) each.

FMI: www.airbus.com