Leading South African aerospace company Aerosud Holdings announced on Wednesday that it had formed a strategic alliance with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). As a consequence, the IDC has taken a 26% shareholding in Aerosud Holdings.

Aerosud Holdings has two subsidiary companies, the wholly-owned Aerosud Aviation, and the African NDT Centre, in which the South African enterprise holds 50%. The other 50% is owned by a subsidiary of European airliner manufacturer Airbus. NDT stands for non-destructive testing.

"The IDC was not previously a shareholder," Aerosud Aviation MD Johan Steyn told Engineering News Online. "It has financed industrial development for us since 1997, but it only became a shareholder in June."

At the same time, Aerosud Holdings also announced that South African private-sector defence group Paramount had increased its shareholding in the aerospace company to 27%. The existing shareholders (basically, the people who founded Aerosud) have about 29% and 6% has been allocated to the current and new management.

"We've also allocated 12% of shares to an employee trust, defined as a BEE [black economic-empowerment] trust" he reported. "We'll be at BEE level four by next year."

Aerosud is on course to reach a turnover of R1-billion a year within two years, and currently has an order book of some R5-billion. It manufactures more than 1.4-million assemblies and parts a year for Airbus, Boeing and their Super Tier One suppliers Spirit Aerosystems and Labinal.

"This [alliance] opens opportunities to grow and add financial resources," affirmed Steyn. Aerosud currently employs 850 engineers, technicians, aerospace artisans and skilled machine and process operators. It has already started on expanding its production facility and plans to create more jobs.