AC&A acquires EnCore Composite Structures

AC&A Enterprises Holdings LLC (Lake Forest, CA, US), a provider of composite and metallic parts in the aerospace, defense, space and specialty automobile markets, announced on Dec. 22 that it has acquired EnCore Composite Structures Inc. (ECS, Brea, CA, US), a division of the EnCore Group. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Located in a 110,000-ft² facility in Brea, ECS is a designer and manufacturer of highly complex composite parts and assemblies for the Airbus A320, Airbus A350 XWB, Boeing 737 MAX and Boeing 787, as well as several military programs. ECS is AC&A’s second add-on acquisition and follows the recent acquisition of Applied Composites Engineering Inc., a provider of advanced composites solutions for aerospace and defense applications, in November 2017.

“The acquisition of ECS represents a strategic addition to the unique composites platform that we are building,” says Bill Boisture, chairman of the board of AC&A and operating partner of AEI. “ECS provides us with a powerful combination of high-growth aerospace programs, strong OEM relationships and unique manufacturing capabilities, while also transforming our scale and market presence. We are excited to have completed this acquisition and to be adding the more than 260 talented ECS employees to our team.”

“AC&A and AEI are investing significantly in aerospace composites and are the ideal strategic partner for ECS,” says Tom McFarland, CEO of the EnCore Group. “We are excited to see these best-in-class composite structures suppliers come together and strongly believe ECS’s customers and people will benefit from this combination.”

AC&A is a portfolio company of AE Industrial Partners LLC, a private equity investor specializing in aerospace, power generation, and specialty industrial companies.

ECS fabricates airframes, auxiliary power units, nacelle structures and wings with expanding content on high-growth commercial and military aerospace programs.