Flying high: Bangor aviation firm acquires U.K.-based company
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C&L Aviation Group is headquartered in Bangor, with international offices in Australia and Europe.
Bangor-based C&L Aviation Group, a provider of aircraft parts and maintenance, has added to its global footprint through the acquisition of U.K.-based ACLAS Technics.
The deal, whose financial terms were not disclosed, marks the buyer's first acquisition since the purchase of Bangor-based Telford Aviation Services in 2010. Before the 2010 transaction, C&L Aviation had been based in Brisbane, Australia, where it was founded in 1994 as a small basement operation selling aircraft parts to the Australian Air Force.
Today, C&L employs more than 200 people, with international offices in Europe and Australia, while ACLAS has a team of 20.
ACLAS Technics, headquartered in the Scottish town of West Lothian, offers structural component repair and overhaul for multiple aircraft types.
Pat Lemieux, director of marketing at C&L Aviation, told Mainebiz on Wednesday that ACLAS had been on his company's radar for some time.
"We send quite a bit of work to them," including aircraft flight control for refurbishing, "and we have always been impressed by the quality of their work." He also said ACLAS is already working on some aircraft types that C&L is not involved with, including B737, A320 and A330 planes.
"The purchase of ACLAS will help us expand into those aircrafts as well," he said.
Going from 'no' to 'yes'
Asked how the deal came together, Lemieux said when C&L first approached ACLAS 18 months ago about a possible acquisition, the Scottish company declined.
"However, roughly six to seven months ago," he noted, "ACLAS came to us asking if we were still interested. We have been working on the deal since."
Charles Henery, founder of ACLAS Technics, will stay on as managing director at the company following the acquisition.
"Having recently expanded structural capacity support on the ATR, Airbus, Boeing and Bombardier platforms, we are excited to work with an exceptional group such as C&L Aviation, which brings a global network and exemplary reputation," Henery said. "Together, we can expand our business and offer unrivaled service provision to our current and future customers.”
For C&L, the acquisition represents "another step in the strategy to provide support for multiple aircraft types, said Chris Kilgour, CEO of C&L Aviation Group. “ACLAS has a great reputation globally and is known for their quality and dependability.”
Kilgour was honored on the Mainebiz Next list in 2013.
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