International team advises CAE Inc. on purchase of Flight Simulation Company

Our Montreal, Amsterdam and Frankfurt offices advised CAE Inc. (“CAE”) in its acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding shares of Flight Simulation Company B.V. (“FSC”) for a cash consideration of approximately €70m (approximately C$108m), calculated on the basis of an enterprise value of €100m (approximately C$155m).

The acquisition expands CAE’s ability to address the training market for customers operating in Europe, including airline and cargo operators. It provides CAE with an expanded portfolio of customers and an established recurring training business which is highly complementary to CAE’s network. 

FSC is based in Amsterdam and includes a modern fleet of mainly CAE-built full-flight simulators (FFSs) and training devices, comprised of nine narrow body B737 and A320 FFSs, two widebody aircraft FFSs and one regional jet. This acquisition is consistent with CAE’s internal acquisition criteria and capital allocation priorities, similar to its other recent bolt-on acquisitions, and is expected to be accretive to earnings in its first full year.

The team was led by Peter Riddell and included Stephen Kelly, Elliot Shapiro, Derek Chiasson, Nikita Stepin, Alexandre Nahoul and Alexandra Persaud (Montreal), Saskia Blokland, Joeri Noteborn, Geert-Jan van Rijthoven, Nivard Witte, Maartje Govaert, Annette van Beers, Remco Smorenburg, Marjolein Lensing and Joep Duinker (Amsterdam) and Karsten Kühnle (Frankfurt).