Stake in Williams Advanced Engineering may be up for sale: Sky

In February Williams Advanced Engineering signed a deal with a design company to develop aircraft interiors using its technology to save weight
In February Williams Advanced Engineering signed a deal with a design company to develop aircraft interiors using its technology to save weight

Williams is considering selling a stake in its engineering arm, Williams Advanced Engineering, in a deal that could be worth tens of millions of pounds.


Sky News has reported that after being approached several times by private equity firms to sell a stake, the owner of Williams Formula One Team is thought to be open to selling a majority stake in the engineering arm, although a more likely outcome is a minority stake being sold.

The F1 team-owner is also considering taking on debt to accelerate the growth of the engineering unit.

WAE was created in 2011 to apply the technology and expertise developed by its F1 team to corporate clients including Unilever and BAE Systems.

The engineering unit has formed partnerships with multiple companies over the last 12 months.

In September 2018 a joint venture was formed between WAE and Unipart to develop batteries for future hybrid and electric vehicles. The launch customer for Hyperbat batteries was the Aston Martin Rapide E, which is the luxury car manufacturer’s first production-ready all-electric car.

In December last year it then formed a partnership with BAE Systems that saw the two companies share expertise and technology in cockpit designs, augmented reality and advanced materials.

At the start of 2019 WAE signed with Lotus to share R&D into advanced propulsion technologies for electric vehicles. The engineering unit of the racing team applied knowledge derived from the battery technology of the inaugural four seasons of Formula E.

February saw WAE sign a deal with JPA Design to develop aircraft interiors using proprietary technologies from both parties to save weight.

The engineering unit has also started collaborating with Triumph to develop specialist electric motorcycle technology and innovative integrated solutions in a two year project.

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