UPDATE 2-Brazil's Embraer names commercial aviation chief as new CEO

(Adds comment from Embraer representative)
By Brad Haynes
SAO PAULO, June 9 (Reuters) - Brazil's Embraer SA EMBR3.SA
will replace its chief executive with the current head of its
commercial aviation division next month, the company said on
Thursday, in a surprise decision.
Paulo Cesar Silva will take the reins of the world's
third-largest commercial aviation firm after nearly two decades
at the company, including six years in charge of its core
airliner business, overseeing development of the next-generation
E-Jet family.
Frederico Curado, who has run the company for more than nine
years, will give up his executive role in July and contribute to
a transition through the end of 2016, Embraer said in a
statement.
"After more than 32 years at Embraer, with 22 of them on the
executive board, I am ending a cycle in my career and I will
focus on other professional and personal activities," Curado
said in the statement. "With Paulo, Embraer is in excellent
hands."
Three analysts who cover the company said they had been
caught off guard by news of the transition. They asked not to be
identified, citing protocol at the institutions where they work.
Under Curado, Embraer has taken command of the regional jet
market, with E-Jets dominating the 70- to 100-seat segment and
pushing into the market for up to 130-seat aircraft, making
trouble for Bombardier Inc's BBDb.TO new C Series.
The company also expanded into executive aviation with a
lineup of new small and midsized jets, as well as more intensive
defense contracting, including the launch of the KC-390 military
cargo jet, the biggest plane ever made in Latin America.
In recent years, Embraer's defense division ran afoul of
anti-corruption legislation in the United States, where the
company has listed shares.
U.S. and Brazilian authorities began investigating Embraer
in 2010 for allegedly bribing officials in the Dominican
Republic to secure deals for commercial and defense aircraft.
A sales consultant told Brazilian prosecutors that he
believed Embraer's top executives, including Curado, knew of
illicit payments related to that deal, the Wall Street Journal
reported in March.
Embraer officials declined to comment directly on the
accusation, pointing out it was apparently leaked from
confidential testimony in a legal case in Brazil, the details of
which were not available to the company.
Curado was not named as a defendant in a 2014 criminal case
in Brazil brought against former Embraer executives involved in
the deal. An Embraer representative said Curado's departure was
entirely unrelated to the graft investigation.