Aurignac Finance advises Tikehau Ace Capital in the acquisition of a majority stake in Groupe Rossi Aero
Tikehau Ace Capital, a private equity firm dedicated to strategic industries and technologies, has reached agreements with the shareholders of Groupe Rossi Aero and its creditors for the takeover of this player specialised in speedshop activities with a key position in the supply chain of the aerospace industry.
Created by the Rossi family in 1976, Rossi Aero focuses on custom component manufacturing, small and medium series manufacturing, MRO and MCO. Rossi Aero has about 200 employees and generated a turnover of about €20 million in 2020.
Specialised in the design and production of structural parts and sub-assemblies for aircraft manufacturers and equipment suppliers, the Group has integrated know-how in the precision machining of light alloys and hard metals, sheet metal work, surface treatment and assembly. Rossi Aero operates three factories around Toulouse, close to its customers to ensure respect of deadlines and high level of quality. The company is in particular a strategic supplier of Airbus.
In 2017, Rossi Aero diversified in component manufacturing in small and medium size batches, with the construction of a cutting-edge plant in terms of equipment, robotics and process automation (Eurocentre). With the health crisis that had a strong impact on all aeronautical OEMs, the Group has sought to strengthen its financial capacity, in particular to ensure the good continuity of the activity of the Eurocentre plant.
Tikehau Ace Capital’s investment in Rossi Aero will strengthen the Group’s capital structure and accelerate its national and international development in a context of recovery in aircraft production rates.
“Groupe Rossi Aero has established itself as a strategic partner of the aerospace supply chain. As a leading and recognised speedshop player with best-in-class capabilities, Groupe Rossi Aero will play a key role in the recovery of program rates within the civil aerospace market. Short delay, on-demand manufacturing of components will be key to avoid failures on the supply chain. With its modern industrial tool, Groupe Rossi Aero has significant capacity to absorb market growth, and we are delighted to bring our support to the management and help them accelerate their growth which will be a driver for the whole sector’s recovery in the context of this unprecedented crisis.“ adds Guillaume Benhamou, Managing Director & CEO – Tikehau Ace Capital.
In this new transaction, Aurignac Finance combines two key areas of expertise: comprehensive understanding of the aeronautics sector and the ability to support investment funds. “Our excellent knowledge of the sector and our buyside know-how enabled us to provide real support to Tikehau Ace Capital’s teams in completing this transaction. It allows to preserve the French aeronautical supply chain and to prepare it for the production growth challenges it will face in the coming years. We remain very active in the domain of OEMs to the aeronautics and defence industries, with several other transactions that we are accompanying, both on the sellside and on the buyside“, Christine de Briganti, Partner and Stoyan Kostadinov, Director – Aurignac Finance.
