Berkley Aviation Investors buying Boise-based Western Aircraft

Western Aircraft has a new owner.

Berkley Aviation Investors Inc. is buying the Boise aircraft sales, service and charter company in a stock transaction expected to close this month. A purchase price was not disclosed.

The sellers are Al Hilde Jr. - the majority stockholder who in 1995 bought Western Aircraft from Washington Group predecessor Morrison-Knudsen - CEO Allen Hoyt, and Tim Hilde.

Hoyt said, in an interview, the management team will stay in place and no layoffs are planned.

Western Aircraft employs more than 150 at Boise Airport, where it occupies five hangars and office space totaling 115,000 square feet. The company, which in October completed a new fixed-base operations terminal, plans to add a sixth 20,000-square-foot hangar this year, he said.

Berkley Aviation Investors is a wholly owned, private-equity investment vehicle of W.R. Berkley Co., Greenwich, Conn. (NYSE: BER), Hoyt said.

In a statement from Western, Al Hilde said  he and Hoyt chose Berkley from among several interested parties because Berkley and the longtime Western owners have similar values, and that Berkley is best suited for customers and employees.

Hilde, 74, has been reducing his active investments for the past several years to diversify his holdings and devote more time to other matters, according to Western Aircraft. He owns Minneapolis-based Satellite Shelters Inc. and half of Jackson Hole Aviation in Wyoming.