The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Rhode Island-headquartered Textron Inc. -- the parent company of Cessna Aircraft and Bell Helicopters, among other aerospace and defense manufacturing businesses -- is close to being purchased by a consortium of companies from the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. The Journal cites a report from a Kuwaiti newspaper that says the consortium is interested in Textron's civil industries, including Cessna, and plans to sell the defense businesses to a U.S. company. Analysts quoted by the Journal say that sales of U.S. companies with defense or national security components create potential difficulties and that splitting Textron's entities as a condition of the sale would be necessary for government approval. Textron officials are not commenting on the report.
