Teledyne’s Continental Motors Unit Sold to Chinese Company

Teledyne Technologies has sold its Continental Motors division to Technify Motors, a unit of AVIC International of China. The new owner plans to keep the company headquarters in Mobile, Alabama, where it has been since the 1960s. The deal was worth $186 million and includes Teledyne properties Mattituck Services, which will remain in Mattituck, Long Island, New York, and the Continental facility in Fairhope, Alabama. Pending approval from government regulatory agencies, the deal is set to close sometime in the first quarter of 2011. The management team at TCM has been retained in place. Under the new ownership, research is expected to continue on new projects, the most significant of which is diesel engine technology. AVIC International, with extensive interests in the aviation industry, had $6 billion in sales in 2009. Continental Motors developed its first aircraft engine in 1929. For more information on the pending sale and what it means to the future of the company, click here to read this week's Going Direct, by Flying Editor-in-Chief Robert Goyer.