Israel's Blades Technology sold to American Pratt & Whitney

The Wertheimer family has sold the remaining controlling interest of Blades Technology International Inc. to U.S. jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but it has been estimated at hundreds of millions of shekels.

Blades Technology manufactures airplane parts and employees some 2,000 people in Israel. Pratt & Whitney is a subsidiary of multinational American conglomerate United Technologies Corporation, which already has a 49 percent stake in the company.

Founded in 1968 to supply the Israeli Air Force with spare parts, Blades Technology has become one of the world's largest manufacturers of machine blades and vanes for the aerospace and industrial gas turbine industries, producing a reported 40% of all compressor and turbine vanes in the world at its plant in Nahariya, in northern Israel.

"The company will keep operating in Israel. The demands of the industry are steadily growing, as you can see from Airbus and Boeing's projections. The acquiring company will introduce technological [innovations]. It is a leader in this industry," Eitan Wertheimer told Israel Hayom Thursday.

"I have mixed feelings about the sale. On the one hand, it's very satisfying, but on the other hand, I've spent decades of my life in this company. Nevertheless, this is the right move."

With the sale of Blades Technology, the Wertheimer family's last substantial holding in Israel, Wertheimer said that he will now pursue various social endeavors, "although that won't be done publicly. It's important to understand that none of us stay young forever and it is [the owner of] a family business's obligation to pass it down to future generations."