(Yicai Global) July 21 – UK-based Gardner Aerospace Holdings Ltd., a supplier of aircraft parts to Airbus SE [PAR:AIR], has started construction of its global flagship plant in Chengdu.

The plant is situated in Southwest Airport Economic Development Zone in Shuangliu district of Chengdu, the capital of China's southwestern Sichuan province, the Western China Metropolitan Newspaper reported.

Gardner Aerospace is a leading manufacturer of aerospace parts in Europe. Its products mainly find a home in the Airbus series aircraft.

Shaanxi Ligeance Mineral Resources Co. [SHE:000697] (SLMR), Gardner's parent company, said July 19 evening that it inked an investment agreement on Gardner Aerospace's global flagship plant project with Chengdu's Shuangliu district government.

The project involves design, manufacturing, processing, assembly, maintenance and systems integration of aircraft and aerospace engine parts and components and will become Gardner's headquarters for global management, operation and settlement, the announcement said.

Total investment in the project will reach USD90 million (CNY600 million), and construction will last one year. It will be Gardner's 11th and largest plant globally, said Wang Lizhi, SLMR's deputy general manager. Gardner will move its headquarters to the plant in the year following its activation.

Aside from producing Airbus parts, the factory will support manufacturing of Star unmanned aerial vehicles and smaller engines for the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and fill orders for C919 domestically-built aircraft, Wang said.

SLMR acquired all of Gardner Aerospace via its wholly-owned Hong Kong subsidiary in June, per public information.