World Helicopters acquires Bond Aviation Group for £300m

World Helicopters, the holding company of Grupo Inaer ("Inaer"), owned by Investindustrial and KKR, today announces the successful acquisition of Bond Aviation Group ("Bond), the UK's largest independent emergency and mission critical helicopter operator.

With over 40 helicopters, Bond provides onshore and offshore helicopter services to the emergency services, police and oil and gas operators.

Inaer, with ca. 320 aircraft (273 rotary and 47 fixed wing), is the leading global provider of mission critical helicopter services and has operations in Europe, Australia, North Africa and south America.

Peter and Stephen Bond have made a substantial financial investment into the World Helicopter Group and will both have executive seats on the World Helicopters Board.

Peter Bond will remain Chairman of the Bond Aviation Group and the Bond operations brand will continue as will the current senior management team in Bond Offshore helicopters and Bond Air Services.

Peter Bond, executive Chairman of Bond Helicopters, said: "Bond is a perfect fit with Inaer. Both share the same entrepreneurial spirit and are complementary on both a geographical and fleet basis.

"We are excited about the prospects that World Helicopters brings with its strong capital base for the continued successful expansion and operation of Bond Air Services and Bond Offshore Helicopters, ensuring the highest levels of service provision and flexibility to meet our customers' requirements. Furthermore, the resulting Group will leverage on its enlarged size to stay at the forefront in terms of safety, technology advances and fleet capabilities".

Luis Minano, Executive Chairman of Inaer, commented: "We are delighted to have completed this integration which provides us with a strong platform for growth in the fast growing international emergency services market. In the last five years we have built Inaer into a leader in terms of quality, safety and reliability serving governments, local authorities, commercial clients and the public in saving lives and protecting the environment.

"This acquisition provides us with access to a strong management team and further opportunities to extend our safety and training investments to support our clients. The two entities will operate ca. 360 aircraft worldwide".

Source: World Helicopters / Bond