LA private equity firm swoops to buy Shannon’s Eirtech Aviation

Los Angeles private equity firm Vance Street Capital has bought Shannon-based aircraft coating company Eirtech Aviation.

Vance Street did not disclose the price it paid for the Irish company, which employs 250 people and has been previouslyestimated to have an enterprise value of $50 million (€36 million).

Vance plans to combine it with two existing portfolio firms to create an aircraft painting and interior care company called International Aerospace Coatings (IAC). The other two firms are US-based Leading Edge Aviation Services and Associated Painters.

Eirtech's shareholders – chief executive Niall Cunningham and chief operating officer Peter Collins – will take an equity stake in IAC which, after Eirtech is integrated, will employ 800 people in North America and Europe.

Global leader

“We are excited to partner with Eirtech Aviation and bring it together with Leading Edge to create a unique and strategic global leader in exterior aviation coating services,” said

Brian Martin

, a principal at Vance Street Capital. “We look forward to supporting the growth and further expansion plans of the combined entity.”

“The aviation sector is not constrained by geographical boundaries and is a dynamic, global industry,” said Mr Cunningham. “It therefore follows that aviation service providers will adopt similar global models. Merging a leading European and US provider was an obvious move. It positions the new entity as an industry leader by size and scale.”

Mr Cunningham, who is in New York, did not comment further.

Czech Republic

Eirtech is 75 per cent owned by Mr Cunningham, with the remaining shares held by Mr Collins. Following its establishment in Shannon, Eirtech opened its second aircraft hangar at Dublin airport in 2010, before expanding operations into the Czech Republic and

Italy

.

Eirtech paints aircraft for customers including Etihad and Qatar Airways. In March, its Irish team painted a Qatar Airways plane with the flag of FC Barcelona Partnership to celebrate a sponsorship deal. It also installs aircraft equipment for Southwest and has an asset management business.