ROME (Reuters) - Italy's Finmeccanica (MI:SIFI) has not received any offer for the British arm of its helicopter business AgustaWestland and does not plan to sell it anyway, the aerospace and defence group's chief executive, Mauro Moretti, said on Friday.
"We didn't have any request and, even if we had, we wouldn't think of selling," Moretti said.
British newspaper The Sunday Times said in a report this week that Boeing (N:BA) made a bid earlier this year to buy Westland but the approach was spurned.
"It is a strategic sector, it is core business ... It is a sector where we are investing, also in Britain," Moretti said.
In 2001 Agusta and Westland were merged as a joint venture company by respective owners Finmeccanica and UK engineering group GKN (L:GKN) and four years later Finmeccanica acquired GKN's 50 percent stake.