Textron soars on possible sale to Emirates group

Al-Watan, a Kuwaiti newspaper said a United Arab Emirates consortium of companies is interested in buying the maker of Cessna jets and Bell helicopters, offering $21 a share for Textron.

Shares rose $4.45, or 48.85 percent, to close at $13.56 in New York Stock Exchange trading.

Textron has about $3.4 billion in cash currently from $13.9 billion last year and has total debt standing at $9.3 billion, or $39 a share, according to the reports.

Analysts have said no one would want to buy the entire company because of the liquidity crisis it is facing due to write offs in its Textron Financial subsidiary, according to Marketwatch.

However, Macquarie Research analyst Robert Stallard said in note to clients today that a purchase by a Middle East consortium makes more sense than earlier rumors of large military contractors emerging as potential suitors, Marketwatch reports.

"A couple of entities in the Middle East region have a track record of investing in aerospace, and the region as a whole has been a long-term purchaser of business aviation, and so we believe there is good awareness of the value of the Cessna brand, even if it is in a downturn at the moment," Stallard said.

Citigroup analyst Jeffrey Sprague said a possible deal would break apart the company, according to Businessweek. The consortium is reportedly interested in Textron’s “civil industries,” avoiding the problem of a sale to Middleast companies, he said. The company has both civil and military operations in the various companies it owns.