Tulsa's Southern Aeroparts Sold

A Pennsylvania aerospace manufacturer has acquired Southern Aeroparts Inc., the Tulsa provider of third-party maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services to the commercial airline industry. No purchase price was disclosed by the companies.

Executives at Ametek Inc., a publicly held Philadelphia-area manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical components, said the addition of Southern Aeroparts will broaden the Pennsylvania firm's capabilities in the MRO field.

Southern Aeroparts, 10827 E. Marshall St., has 42 employees and annual revenue of $17 million.

"SAI enjoys an excellent reputation within the aerospace industry and has a strong record of growth and financial performance," Ametek Chairman and CEO Frank S. Hermance said in a written statement. "The acquisition of SAI opens up new growth opportunities for Ametek to expand the level of MRO support we provide to the airlines.

"SAI's MRO expertise covers a broad range of hydraulic, pneumatic and electromechanical components, including increasingly complex aircraft subsystems. The addition of SAI expands Ametek's capabilities and will enable Ametek to offer airlines a wide array of third-party MRO services.

"As the trend of airlines outsourcing maintenance tasks continues and accelerates, Ametek will be well positioned to capture more of this very attractive business."

Southern Aeroparts will become part of Ametek's Aerospace & Defense division. The unit is a leading supplier of engine and aircraft monitoring systems, data acquisition modules, fuel and fluid measurement systems, engine and airframe sensors, cables, harness assemblies, avionics blowers, fans and heat transfer and cooling systems.

In July, Ametek was selected to provide heat exchangers, hydraulic quantity indicators, temperature sensors and pressure transducers to Parker Aerospace for the advanced hydraulic subsystem it is developing for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., 3330 N. Mingo Road, which employs 1,500 people, is manufacturing wing components for the 787. The jet is expected to go into service next year.

The Parker hydraulic subsystem will operate at 5,000 pounds per square inch, compared with a traditional commercial aircraft pressure of 3,000 psi. The greater rate of pressure will reduce the size of the equipment needed and also reduce the weight of the subsystem, company officials said.

With the resources of Ametek, which has $1.8 billion in annual revenue, 10,000 employees and 60 manufacturing plants in the United States and 30 countries around the world, Southern Aeroparts could rachet up the MRO competition in Tulsa, officials said.

American Airlines employs 6,000 aircraft mechanics in Tulsa and has won several hundred million dollars in third-party MRO work during the past two years.

Nordam Group's 2,000 workers in Tulsa perform maintenance and manufacturing for several airlines and the military. Dozens of area job shops and aircraft component repair facilities have made northeastern Oklahoma one of the premier MRO centers in the world, industry officials said.

Southern Aeroparts is the third Oklahoma company, the second in the Tulsa area, that Ametek has acquired in recent years, said company spokesman Jim McKinley.

In September 2003, Ametek acquired Chandler Instruments in Broken Arrow for $50 million. Chandler manufactures instruments used in the oil and gas drilling industries.

Ametek purchased Prestolite Motor Business in Wagoner for $60 million in August 2000. Prestolite manufactures electric motors used in fork lifts, winches and pumps.

Chandler and Prestolite together employ 208 people, company officials said.

Shares of Ametek, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AME, closed at $30.99 Friday, down 59 cents, or 1.8 percent.

Ametek shares reached a 52-week high of $34.09 on May 5. They hit a 52-week low of $26.39 on Aug. 10.

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