Italy's Finmeccanica (SIFI.MI) has not received any offer for the British arm of its helicopter business AgustaWestland and does not plan to sell it anyway, the aerospace and defense group's chief executive, Mauro Moretti, has said.
"We didn't have any request and, even if we had, we wouldn't think of selling," Moretti said.
British newspaper The Sunday Times said in a report this week that Boeing (BA.N) made a bid earlier this year to buy Westland but the approach was spurned.
"It is a strategic sector, it is core business ... It is a sector where we are investing, also in Britain," Moretti said.
In 2001 Agusta and Westland were merged as a joint venture company by respective owners Finmeccanica and UK engineering group GKN and four years later Finmeccanica acquired GKN's 50 percent stake.
Recently, Interpol issued a Red Corner Notice against British national Christian Michel, an alleged middleman in connection with the Rs.3,600 crore VVIP AgustaWestland chopper deal case in India. The move came over two months after a Delhi court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against the 54-year-old Michel, according to a report in the Indian Express.
Michel is facing charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, illegal gratification and abuse of official position for allegedly acting as middleman to influence the decision to purchase 12 VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland.
The CBI on March 13, 2013 registered a first information report against former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi and others in the chopper deal case. Firms Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland, IDS Infotech Ltd. (India) and Aeromatrix India were also booked as accused in the case.
Michel was working as an middleman for this deal for Finmeccanica, a group firm of AgustaWestland.
