Brazil's Embraer looking for M&A opportunities in services, support

Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA is assessing mergers and acquisitions (M&A) opportunities in services and support as it looks to optimize operations as part of its “fit for growth” plan, executives said on Wednesday. The search includes Embraer’s own executive jets division as the company sees it as complementary to the Services & Support one. Michael Amalfitano, the head of the executive jets business, said during an event that most of such opportunities might be in the United States and Europe, where the bulk of its clients are. “We are reassessing that network, saying ‘what is the right balance? Is there an opportunity for us to build, or merge, or buy that will give us some more optimized way of taking care of customers for the four segments of executive aviation?’,” Amalfitano said. The demand for executive jets has been overwhelming, with Embraer’s expecting to deliver between 100 and 110 jets this year. Embraer’s backlog currently stretches into the third quarter of 2024, Amalfitano said. His remarks came as the chief executive of Embraer Services & Support, Johann Bordais, confirmed the unit was pursuing M&A opportunities. “M&A is something we are pursuing just to grow. The priority will be on the executive aviation side, we want to make sure we are really increasing our footprint on the support side of executive aviation, but definitely commercial aviation also,” Bordais said.<br/>