Bombardier Action Plan: Dump Recreational Products for Quick Cash

Transportation manufacturer Bombardier Ltd. has announced plans to sell off its recreational products division, a move that will reverberate through the Quebec plastics industry. Bombardier Recreational Products manufactures snowmobiles, personal watercraft and all-terrain vehicles, and is a major client of many Quebec plastic processors.

The divestiture is part of an action plan unveiled April 3 by Bombardier’s new CEO, Paul Tellier. Segmented revenues of this division for the year ended January 31, 2003 were $2.5 billion.

However, the sale may not mean a loss of contracts for Quebec processors. Snowmobiles are what launched Bombardier in 1942, and members of the Bombardier family have expressed an interest in leading a group of investors seeking to acquire the recreational products business.