Rolls-Royce to sell stake in aviation services provider for £189m

Rolls-Royce has announced it has agreed to sell its stake in an aviation services provider for £189 million.

The engineering giant, which has its civil aerospace and defence divisions in Derby, has agreed a deal to sell its 23% shareholding in AirTanker Holdings.

AirTanker Holdings is a joint venture with Airbus, Babcock, and Thales, which owns 14 A330-200 Voyager aircraft.

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Voyagers support air-to-air refuelling, air transport and ancillary services for the UK Ministry of Defence.

The fleet is operated by AirTanker Services, in which Rolls-Royce will continue to be a 23.5% shareholder.

The company will also continue to provide servicing and maintenance for the fleet of Rolls-Royce engines that power the Voyager aircraft to support the Royal Air Force.

The Voyagers are powered by Trent 772B engines, a derivative of the Trent 700 engine, which was designed and developed in Derby for civil aircraft.

Tom Bell, president of Rolls-Royce Defence, said: “We are honoured to power the Voyager fleet.

“Through our continued ownership position in AirTanker Services, the Royal Air Force can rely on us to support its mission critical operations with our Trent 700 derivative engines.

“The sale of our shareholding in AirTanker Holdings is another important step towards achieving our group target to generate at least £2 billion from disposals, as announced last year, to help rebuild our group balance sheet in support of our medium-term ambition to return to an investment grade credit profile.”