Embraer concludes sale of Portuguese manufacturing units to Aernnova

 

On May 2 Embraer (São Paulo, Brazil) and Aernnova (Miñano Mayor, Spain) concluded the strategic partnership agreement announced in early 2022. Aernnova now owns all shares of Embraer Metálicas (Metallics) and Embraer Compósitos (Composites) industrial plants in Évora, Portugal, in an investment totaling approximately $174 million.

For Embraer, this partnership is another opportunity to increase the production capacity of its two units, since, in addition to supplying components for the company's commercial, executive aviation and defense areas, there is an expected increase in the production of components for other global aeronautical manufacturers. This implies more jobs in this inland region of Portugal, as well as a potential increase in exports, Embraer notes. Thus, the factories in Évora also contribute to the increase of the aeronautical production capacity of the Alentejo region and guarantee its position as a reference in the Aeronautical Cluster of Portugal.

The agreement is also in line with Aernnova’s growth strategy, which will further reinforces the company’s status as a Tier 1 supplier for single-aisle aircraft, and will improve its presence in the executive and defense aerospace markets. It also aims to increase the production capacity of Évora’s centers of excellence, whose operation is of strategic importance for Embraer’s current and future products. The capacity of these industrial units will enable new contracts to be signed, either with Embraer or with other manufacturers.

With 500 employees, the Évora units produce, among other things, components for wings and vertical and horizontal stabilizers for Embraer’s aircraft programs such as the Praetor 500 and Praetor 600 executive jets, two generations of the E-Jets family of commercial jets and the multi-mission aircraft, KC-390 Millennium. The industrial units in Portugal will constitute Aernnova’s largest production centers in the world.

Embraer maintains its strategic commitment to Portugal, the country where the company invests the most in industrial capacity, outside of Brazil. But, the company points out, it is not only in industrial units that Embraer has focused its new investments in this region. In March 2022, a technological development cooperation project was launched with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with idD Portugal Defence (Lisbon) and ETI (Sobreda, Portugal). This new partnership aims to develop defense and dual-use products in areas related to training and simulation technologies, more specifically with virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality and data analytics.