Pattonair

The deal

The teams

The story

Pattonair is Europe’s leading provider of distribution and value added supply chain management services to the aerospace and defence industry. The business undertakes the sourcing, procurement, inspection, warehousing, product movement, picking and delivery on a just-in-time basis for high-volume, low-value parts and small and medium complexity components.

The company was acquired from Umeco Plc in 2011. Exponent worked for a number of months prior to the transaction to build the buy-out plan with Pattonair’s management team, led by Wayne Hollinshead.

We were attracted to Pattonair by its leading market position in Europe and the potential for significant growth in the US and Asia. The commercial aerospace market it serves is characterised by long term structural growth and a trend towards outsourcing. The business has strong visibility of earnings, due to its embedded position with its customers, underpinned by long term structural growth. Our due diligence also identified a clear opportunity for operational improvement through renewed focus on the business outside the PLC environment.

The business was acquired by Platinum Private Equity for an undisclosed sum in October 2017.