Lear Siegler to Sell 2 Aerospace Units to GE of London

Lear Siegler said Friday that it has agreed to sell two of its aerospace divisions to General Electric Co. of London for $205 million as part of the Santa Monica company’s continuing divestiture of operations following a buyout early this year by Forstmann Little.

The two divisions--Lear Siegler Astronics of Santa Monica and Developmental Sciences of Ontario--had estimated pretax earnings of $15 million on sales of $124.8 million for the fiscal year ending June 30. The divisions’ combined assets were estimated at $41.3 million.

Astronics, which employs 1,107 people, produces flight control systems. Developmental Sciences, which has 238 employees, makes drone aircraft.

Selling Off Businesses

After Forstmann Little, a New York investment firm, took Lear Siegler private in a $2.1-billion buyout, it said it intended to sell several of Lear Siegler’s businesses, including its aerospace operations. Aerospace businesses were expected to produce revenues in 1987 of about $700 million, or slightly less than one-third of Lear Siegler’s sales.

In addition to the divisions sold to the British General Electric firm, which has no connection to the U.S. company with a similar name, Lear Siegler last week agreed to sell three other aerospace subsidiaries to Smith Industries for $350 million. Lear Siegler has yet to sell its Romec division of Elyria, Ohio, and its Energy Products and Transport Dynamics subsidiaries, both of Santa Ana.

Aerospace analyst John N. Simon of Seidler Amdec Securities in Los Angeles said many aerospace companies have been sold recently for amounts roughly equal to their annual revenue.

Other businesses sold recently by Lear Siegler include its Smith & Wesson handgun business, which was sold to F. H. Tomkins, a British firm, for $412.5 million; its Steinheil-Lear Siegler division in West Germany, which was sold to British Aerospace for $28 million; the Starcraft boat-building and van conversion operation to a management-led group for an undisclosed price; the Peerless truck trailer manufacturing operation to a management-led group for an undisclosed price, and Piper Aircraft, which was sold to Newport Beach businessman Monroe Stuart Millar for an undisclosed price.