Cinven, Finmeccanica Look into Selling Avio Spazio - Report

By Manuela Mesco

MILAN--Italian defense company Finmeccanica SpA (FNC.MI) and private-equity firm Cinven are looking into selling Avio SpA's space division, Avio Spazio, Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore reports Wednesday, citing sources close to Finmeccanica.

The report says Avio Spazio's two controlling companies have received expressions of interest from several parties in recent days, which led them to look into the possibility of selling the asset.

Avio Spazio, which makes propulsion systems for satellite-launch vehicles, is controlled by Cinven with an 81% stake, while Finmeccanica owns 14.3% of the company.

Cinven and Finmeccanica declined to comment, while Avio wasn't immediately reachable for comment.

Last year, Cinven and Finmeccanica sold Avio's core aeronautics unit for 3.3 billion euros ($4.3 billion) to General Electric Co. (GE).

Write to Manuela Mesco at manuela.mesco@dowjones.com

Corrections & Amplifications

This story was corrected at 1129 GMT because the original misstated the day of the report in the first paragraph. Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported the news Wednesday, not Tuesday.

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