General Electric Co’s finance arm is in talks to buy Milestone Aviation Group Ltd, as the US conglomerate looks to expand its aircraft-leasing operation into helicopters, Reuters quoted The Wall Street Journal report. The purchase price for Milestone could be more than $2.5 billion, according to some of the people, it said. Milestone, co-founded by NetJets Inc founder Richard Santulli, has announced plans for an initial public offering of stock, according to the report. Buying Milestone, the world’s largest helicopter-leasing company by fleet value, would broaden GE Capital Aviation Services’ portfolio beyond the competitive plane-leasing business, as it currently owns no helicopters, it said.
