UTC poised for Clipper deal

UNITED STATES: In yesterday's earnings call with analysts, UTC's chief financial officer Gregory Hayes said that UTC is likely to divest itself of Clipper within a "couple of days, couple of weeks".

by Ros Davidson 27 July 2012

Clipper main value is in the servicing potential of its large fleet of Liberty turbines

A rumour has been circulating that UTC might be close to selling Clipper to a private equity firm.

Ajay Kejriwal, a financial analyst with FBR Capital Markets, said that a private-equity buyer of Clipper would make sense, although he still questioned how easy it would be to sell Clipper at all. 

Given current market conditions, a ‘strategic buyer’  is unlikely to buy Clipper for a premium price, he said.

UTC has owned Clipper for less than two years, having completed the acquisition in two tranches for a total of $385 million in 2010.

In March 2012, UTC announced it was selling Clipper, citing the flagging global wind market, uncertainty over US wind subsidies, and increasing competition from China.

Amy Grace, a wind analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), said that Clipper’s real is in its operations and maintenance business because of the company’s fleet of Liberty turbines. 

Dan Shreve of Make Consulting said that there is a "small value" in Clipper’s gearbox test rig for remanufacturing, repairing and testing existing gearboxes.