GE to buy Avio's aviation business for $4.3 billion

U.S. conglomerate General Electric has agreed to buy the aviation business of Italian aerospace company Avio for 3.3 billion euros ($4.3 billion), or 8.5 times Avio's 2012 EBITDA, the companies said on Friday.

Avio will strengthen GE's global supply chain capabilities as its engine production rates continue to rise to meet growing customer demand, GE said in a statement on Friday.

Avio, which supplies engine parts for the Eurofighter Typhoon and engine makers GE and Rolls Royce Holdings Plc , was acquired in 2006 by Cinven in a deal that valued the company at about 2.6 billion euros.

The deal will not include Avio's aerospace unit.

Avio's revenues in the aviation sector were 1.7 billion euros in 2011, with more than 50 percent derived from components for GE and GE joint venture engines.

(Reporting By Krishna Das and Danilo Masoni; Editing by Jennifer Clark and Hans-Juergen Peters)