Woodward to merge with Hexcel to form expected $6B company

FORT COLLINS– Woodward Inc. (Nasdaq: WWD) has agreed to an all-stock merger with Hexcel Inc. (NYSE: HXL) that the two companies say will create a company with $5.3 billion in annual revenue.

In a joint press release Sunday afternoon, the newly formed “Woodward Hexcel” deal would form a major market competitor with $1 billion in free cash flow per year within the defense, aerospace and industrial supplier industries. The deal was presented as a merger of equals, but current Hexcel shareholders would own 45 percent of the new company, while Woodward would hold 55 percent.
Woodward Hexcel would be headquarted in Fort Collins.

Current Hexcel CEO Nick Stanage would serve as the company’s new CEO, while Woodward President and CEO Tom Gendron would become its executive chairman for one year after the merger’s completion before retiring.

The new company’s board would have 10 members, five from Woodward and Hexcel respectively.

Hexcel stockholders are expected to recieve .625 shares of Woodward stock for every Hexcel share they own, while Woodward shareholders will see no changes in their positions.

Woodward is the third-largest employer in Fort Collins, according to the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce, and has plants and research sites in Fort Collins, Loveland and Windsor.

Hexcel is based in Stamford, Connecticut, but has a plant in Windsor that makes composite materials used to build wind-turbine parts. Spokeswoman Kaye Veazey told BizWest the company does not expect to cut any of the approximately 100 employees at the Windsor plant now or in the run-up to the merger’s closing.

The two companies expect to close the deal in Q3 2020.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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