BBA Aviation Plc agreed to buy Carlyle Group LP’s Landmark Aviation for $2.07 billion to expand in flight services for business and general aviation.

BBA will sell 748 million pounds ($1.15 billion) of stock to current investors at 133 pence a share to help fund the purchase, the London-based company said in a statement Wednesday. That compares with Tuesday’s closing price of 284.7 pence. The deal will boost earnings per share by 2017, BBAsaid.

The company’s Signature Flight Support division provides airport services such as refueling and ground handling to private, business and commercial jets. The Landmark Aviation purchase adds 68 locations, including 64 in North America and four in Europe, and spending reductions from combining the companies will amount to $35 million a year, BBA said.

The deal is the “most exciting opportunity for BBA certainly under my tenure,” BBA Chief Executive Officer Simon Pryce, who has been in his post since mid-2007, said on a conference call with journalists. While the acquisition is “sizable,” it is “relatively low risk.”

BBA fell as much as 11 percent, the steepest decline since August 2011, and was trading down 7.4 percent at 263.7 pence as of 8:12 a.m. in London. The stock has dropped 27 percent this year, valuing the company at 1.24 billion pounds.

The rights offering has been fully underwritten by J.P. Morgan Cazenove, Jefferies International Ltd., Barclays Plc and HSBC Holdings Plc. BBA also plans to raise $1 billion in debt financing to help pay for the deal and refinance Landmark existing debt if necessary.

Landmark operates at airports including White Plains, New York; Teterboro, New Jersey; Le Bourget near Paris; Luton, England; and Dulles near Washington.Under Carlyle, the business acquired Centre Partners-backed Ross Aviation in 2014. Carlyle bought Landmark from Chicago PE firm GTCR in 2012. 

--Additional reporting by Allison Collins

Aerospace