Al,
Here's something that may be of interst concerning Magellan. This Press release was just transmitted.
By Randall Palmer
OTTAWA, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The Canadian government confirmed on Monday the controversial
award of a helicopter contract to the same consortium whose contract it canceled at great cost
just four years ago.
Defense Minister Art Eggleton said the C$593 million ($415 million) for 15 search-and-rescue
helicopters went to GKN Westland (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: GKN.L) of Britain, Italy's
Finmeccanica (SIFI.MI) unit Agusta and Canada's Bombardier Inc. (Toronto:BBDa.TO - news).
The winning group also included Bristol Aerospace Ltd., which was acquired last summer by
Toronto-based Magellan Aerospace Corp. (Toronto:MAL.TO - news) from Rolls-Royce
Canada.
Three other consortia campaigned hard for the contract. They were United Technologies Corp.'s
(NYSE:UTX - news) Sikorsky Aircraft Division, Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA - news) of Seattle,
and Eurocopter, a merger of the helicopter divisions of Aerospatiale of France and Germany's
Daimler-Benz (DAIG.F).
Eurocopter had threatened to sue the government if Agusta-Westland was again awarded the
contract, alleging that the selection procedure was unfair, subjective and biased.
Boeing officials had hinted the company might have to shut an Ontario plant that maintains
government helicopters if it lost out on the deal.
The decision amounted to an embarrassing turnaround by the government of Liberal Prime
Minister Jean Chretien, which paid Westland-Agusta C$478 million ($300 million) in taxpayer
money for canceling a deal for 50 helicopters.
The cancellation was one of Chretien's first acts upon taking office from the Conservatives in
late 1993. In his campaign, he had argued that the EH-101 helicopters the Conservatives had
chosen for C$4.8 billion ($3 billion) were Cadillacs, when Canada needed only Chevrolets.
Opposition parties have attacked the government's handling of the deal, with Reform Party
legislator Art Hanger saying Monday: ''We've paid for these helicopters twice now. It's been a
costly election promise for the taxpayers.''
But the Defense Department -- including Eggleton -- insisted that Canada needed the
Westland-Agusta copters, now called Cormorants.
A Defense Department statement said the total project budget would be C$790 million ($553
million), including about C$200 ($140 million) in government costs for such items as project
maintenance, training and spare parts.
It said that if the search-and-rescue share of the cancellation fee was included, the total cost of
the new contract would be C$933 million ($653 million).
Eggleton added that was C$416 million ($291 million), or 30 percent, less than the C$1.35
billion ($945 million) search-and-rescue share of the 1993 contract.
''Now Canadians will have a helicopter that can do the job at a price they can afford,'' Eggleton
said.
The winning group was seen as having an edge on an even richer contract to replace 35
maritime helicopters that can land on ships. The Canadian government has not said when it
would decide on that contract.
Best Regards,
Harry |
