AE Industrial Partners has raised $1.28 billion in capital commitments from institutional investors in the U.S. and worldwide for its third private equity fund to advance its strategy to invest in national security, industrial services and aerospace sectors.
The Boca Raton, Florida-based private investment firm said Tuesday AE Industrial Partners Fund III will invest in key industry suppliers, particularly in the aerospace and defense sector, as they ramp up production to address the increasing demand from their end markets.
To date, AEI has invested more than a quarter of Fund III into five platform companies and three add-on investments, including York Space Systems, RedLattice, Firefly Aerospace, Yingling Aviation and Calca Solutions. Through Fund III, the private equity firm has offered co-investments worth $870 million to limited partners and other investors.
“We are extremely grateful for the support shown by our existing investor pool, as well as the numerous global commitments from new investors who have joined us, expanding and diversifying our investor base,” said Michael Greene, co-CEO and managing partner at AEI.
“Over the past several years we have seen a tremendous growth of interest in our target markets from LPs, and we look forward to continuing our work building the next generation of middle market companies in national security, aerospace and industrial services,” added Greene.
Kirkland & Ellis acted as AEI’s legal adviser.
