Siemens and Rolls-Royce signed an agreement today at the International Paris Air Show in Le Bourget (France) for the sale of Siemens’ eAircraft unit. Through its Vision 2020+ company strategy, Siemens intends to sharpen its portfolio’s focus. For this reason, the company’s business with electric and hybrid-electric systems for aircraft will have substantially better growth perspectives with new owners closely connected to the aerospace industry, the company said.

Closing is subject to the usual conditions and is expected to take place in late 2019. The partners have agreed not to disclose the financial details of the transaction.

As an in-house startup with around 180 employees, Siemens eAircraft develops electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems for the aerospace industry. At locations in Munich and Erlangen (Germany) and Budapest (Hungary), the unit has been cooperating with partners such as Airbus to create prototypes for propulsion systems with power ratings ranging from less than one hundred to several thousand kilowatts—for example, for the Airbus air taxi, the CityAirbus.

To further drive the technology, eAircraft entered a development partnership with Airbus in 2016. Siemens has been researching and developing electric aircraft propulsion systems for about ten years, setting several records along the way.