MB Aerospace Continues Consolidation of Aero-Engine Precision Components Market With Multi-Million Dollar Acquisition

MOTHERWELL, Scotland, June 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

- Delta Deal Will Lift Group's 2013 Revenues To £100m / $160m-

MB Aerospace, the international aerospace engineering group, has today announced the acquisition of US-based aero-engine component manufacturing business Delta Industries, which had annual revenues in excess of $60m in 2012.

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The multi-million dollar deal to acquire Delta, based in Hartford, Connecticut, will expand the MB Aerospace business to projected revenues of more than $160m (£100m) and to 550 employees (up from 370) for the 2013 financial year.

The acquisition follows MB Aerospace chief executive Craig Gallagher leading a secondary MBO of MB Aerospace sponsored by Washington DC based private equity firm Arlington Capital Partners ('Arlington') in March of this year.  

Mr Gallagher said: "With its wide range of capabilities, long-standing customer relationships and its strong management team, the Delta business has been a long-term target for MB Aerospace. It is a perfect fit with our ambitions for future growth.

"We are delighted to have succeeded in securing such a highly prized company and we believe that the combined group is positioned to take advantage of the available opportunities for further expansion in the months and years ahead.

"Today's announcement adds significant technical capabilities to the group, especially in relation to large-diameter fabrications and robotic welding of complex high-value aero engines components.  In addition to its high levels of capability, Delta has an industry-leading reputation for its ability to manufacture challenging system-critical components."      

The enlarged group now has a range of capabilities able to provide OEMs with engineering skills/services alongside the complex products found throughout aero, marine and industrial gas turbine engines.  Core product technologies include casings, complex fabricated casings, rotating rings, complex structural assemblies and a range of diffusers, sync rings and high-value casings.

Mr Gallagher added: "The Delta acquisition is part of a progressive widening of MB Aerospace's capability footprint to address the critical service needs of our aero-engine customers. Historically, a typical aero-engine would have more than 400 unique suppliers; on the next generation of aero-engines this will be reduced to around 100 with tier one suppliers required to operate across a range of capabilities to serve their customers.

"The acquisition of Delta brings MB Aerospace significant engineering capacity with well invested technology alongside an ambitious management team, deep product engineering capabilities, and a strong book of business in commercial and U.S. defence end markets that will help support our growth plans. We also believe that establishing a new base for MB Aerospace in the aerospace community of Hartford, Connecticut, is another strategic step for the group as we broaden our customer reach, skills base and retain close proximity to the engineers at our key customers.

"MB Aerospace has always favoured manufacturing in the industrial heartlands of North America and the United Kingdom. Accessing the engineering skills and heritage of the Connecticut aerospace corridor will strongly complement similar features of our existing operations in Detroit - Michigan, Motherwell - Scotland, Burnley - England and Derby - England."

MB Aerospace already supplies many key names in the aerospace and defence industries, providing supply chain integration services alongside the manufacture and repair of complex aero-engine components.  Together with Delta, the enlarged MB Aerospace group provides services and support to more than 45 separate aero-engine platforms across a range of commercial, defence and industrial gas turbine applications.

The Delta acquisition takes the group's staffcount in the US to more than 400, in addition to its three UK sites in Scotland and England which employ upwards of 150. Through its recent acquisition programme, MB Aerospace has sought to acquire operations with a rich level of engineering resource embedded throughout the business - with the acquisition of Delta, the group will employ more than 125 manufacturing and quality engineers, providing significant bandwidth to robustly serve its customers and capitalize on the period of sustained growth anticipated across the industry.                    

Bill Evans II, President of Delta Industries, commented: "We are delighted to join MB Aerospace - in them we see a business which is actively looking to grow in the aero-engine components market where it has key supply chain presence coupled with a strong range of customer relationships.

"We believe that these, combined with the capabilities and track record of our people here in Hartford, can propel Delta Industries on to even greater achievements and we're all looking forward to being part of that journey."

MB Aerospace's key customers now include Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, General Electric, Boeing, United Technologies, GKN, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and the US Department of Defense.  

Craig Gallagher added: "We see exciting opportunities in the years ahead, as the global airline sector is expected to grow significantly over the next two decades, doubling from its current 20,000 aircraft by the early 2030s.

"This growth is being fuelled by the rising demand for travel in Asia coupled with the need of European and American airlines to replace ageing aircraft, dramatically increasing the demand for the wide range of world-class manufacturing and aftermarket services we already provide to some of the world's biggest aviation players.

"The global installed base of gas turbine aero-engine derivatives is nearly 225,000 units across various aerospace, defence and industrial applications and the majority of this fleet is expected to be growing and in service for several decades to come.

"The combination of our customer base along with Delta's clients is one of several powerful reasons why this deal is such a positive one for both organisations and the benefits to our expanded customer base will be significant.  Following the acquisition of Delta we remain active in pursuing acquisition opportunities that complement our overall strategy."

Issued by The BIG Partnership on behalf of MB Aerospace.

Notes to editors:

MB Aerospace is an international aerospace engineering group providing complex engineering solutions to some of the key names in the aerospace and defence market.

MB Aerospace provides an in-depth knowledge of critical manufacturing technologies and the global supply chain management to support complex aero-engine component manufacture and repair.

MB Aerospace supports major corporations to address the root causes of under-performance in their extended and fragmented supply chains and helps safe-guard the continuity of supply in challenging circumstances.

MB Aerospace Chief Executive, Craig Gallagher, led the initial buyout in 2007 followed by the recent secondary management buy-out with the intent of building a global business of scale.  MB Aerospace provides critical supply chain solutions, complex component manufacture and component repair to key industry primes and is targeting growth through strategic acquisitions in North America, remit extensions for its existing US and UK businesses.

In March of this year MB Aerospace announced the completion of a secondary MBO - via new investors Washington DC-based private equity fund Arlington Capital Partners ('Arlington') - to provide significant funding for a planned series of acquisitions.

Following strong growth and with a pipeline of significant opportunities, MB Aerospace attracted support from Arlington who have taken a majority stake in the business alongside the MB Aerospace management team as part of the secondary buyout.

SOURCE MB Aerospace