Bombardier Focuses On Bizjet Business

Bombardier is selling its train business to French rail giant Alsom and focusing exclusively on its business jet company according to reports released late Sunday. The deal is reportedly worth $7.5 billion and will allow Bombardier to eliminate most of its crushing $9 billion debt. The deal is expected to be announced on Monday. On Thursday, Bombardier CEO Alain Bellemare signalled the move. “Our transformation in aerospace is largely complete,” Bellemare told a conference call last week after announcing it was selling its 31 percent stake in the Airbus A220 airliner. “For Bombardier, our future in aerospace is with our industry leading business jet franchise and we see tremendous opportunities.”

Bombardier has sold off all of its commercial airliner business and also sold its amphibious air tanker division over the last couple of years to raise the cash to pay off that crippling $9 billion in debt, much of it attributable to the development of the CSeries, which was renamed the A220 after Airbus bailed out the program. That left the business jet and train divisions. The train business has struggled in recent years but sales for business jets have remained strong and the company recently certified three new long-range aircraft.