LONDON, Jan 3 (AFP) - Aeronautics engine manufacturers Rolls Royce and Pratt and Whitney (a subsidiary of United Technologies) are studying the possibility of a merger. Investment banks acting for Pratt and Whitney made a proposal to the board of Rolls Royce for a merger dominated by the British company. However, the two groups had not yet held talks directly by early January.
The two groups held merger talks five years ago with nothing to show for those talks. These talks had come to nothing because the chairman of Rolls Royce, Ralph Robins, had insisted that his company should control the new entity. Pratt and Whitney had rejected that, having lost big shares of the market in the last five years to Rolls Royce.
The newspaper quoted an adviser to a bank involved in the proposal as saying that Rolls Royce would have to give serious consideration to any such proposal. This step would be the last stage in the consolidation of the aero-engine industry and perhaps will not occur again.
The two companies are already partners in the International Aero-Engine consortium, which makes engines for European Airbus A320 airliners. In October, the two groups signed a partnership agreement to develop and supply engines for a British-American fighter aircraft program 
Newswires
