PE Firm AE Industrial Partners Raise $1.4bn in Fund II
AE Industrial Partners, the PE firm that owns both Belcan and CDI Corp, has raised $1.36bn for its new fund, AE Industrial Partners Fund II.
Fund II will be dedicated to controlling investments in:
- Technical manufacturing
- Distribution and supply chain
- MRO
- Industrial service-based businesses.
AE Industrial Partners had raised in April 2016 $680m. The firm has invested 80% of this amount and made 21 acquisitions.
AE Industrial Partners did not make any comment specific to the ER&D industry. Still, AE now has twice the amount it had raised in 2016. The company has significantly invested in Belcan, but it still needs to initiate the process in CDI Corp. CDI Corp, therefore, seems a likely candidate, even it AE is probably focusing on bringing CDI Corp back to profitability.
A final word:$1.36bn is a significant amount, but is not large enough to buy tier-ones into the expensive and fast-consolidating US federal sector. AE will have to look for small to mid-sized preys.