Dubai's Emivest in talks with Chinese over sale of jet firm

Emivest bought the ailing Sino Swearingen company in 2008 with the promise to invest a billion dollars in the programme for the SJ30 light jet and a second, larger model.

Economic woes in Dubai saw the programme halted and administrators called in.

But CAIGA is said to be interested in rescuing the jet which is recognised as the fastest and longest range aircraft in its class.

The move follows just a week after CAIGA - a unit of China's biggest plane maker, AVIC, agreed to buy US light aircraft builder Cirrus, ioff of the Bahrain investment house.

The Cirrus single-engine SR22 has been the world's best-selling four-seat airplane for nine years. CAIGA had already purchased Epic Aircraft which has a personal jet and a 12-seater turboprop among its kitplanes and has also bought engine maker Teledyne Industries Continental Engine Company.

The Emivest deal would give the Chinese company a missing piece for an effective family of aircraft that would compete with Cessna and would allow it to meet the growing demand for general and business aviation in China.