Babcock in talks over sale of aviation emergency arm - report

Government contractor Babcock International is reportedly in talks to offload the bulk of its emergency aviation services division, which includes Britain's Air Ambulance fleet.

According to Sky News, Babcock is in advanced negotiations with London-based infrastructure investor Ancala Partners about acquiring a substantial part of the business it bought in 2014.

Babcock, which handles the maintenance of the UK's nuclear submarine fleet, paid £1.6bn for Avincis eight years ago, but the deal rapidly became a huge financial and operational burden. Sky said that selling the division - which accounts for most of last year's aviation sector revenues of £854m - will effectively unwind the Avincis deal for Babcock, crystallising a substantial loss of value for shareholders.

If completed, the transaction is expected to value the Babcock division at around £100m.

Babcock has already sold its oil and gas helicopter aviation arm at a loss.

It was unclear on Tuesday whether the UK Air Ambulance fleet would form part of the sale to Ancala.