AE Industrial holds first close on $700 mln fund

Firm: AE Industrial Partners

Fund: AE Industrial Partners Fund I LP

Target: $700 mln

Amount raised: $200 mln

Placement Agent: Eaton Partners

This is the first institutional fund raised by AE Industrial Partners since it was founded in 1998 by David Rowe and Brian RoweThe firm, which invests in aerospace, power-generation companies and specialty industrial markets, traces its roots back nearly 20 years with backing from a family office and a chain of deals with The Carlyle Group.

David Rowe is currently listed as managing partner at AE Industrial. He manages AE Industrial’s relationship with Carlyle, which dates back to a 2001 investment in Aviall Inc and includes nine portfolio investments, according to the firm’s website.

Thomas Churbuck, managing partner, joined the firm in 2007 after working as co-founding partner of Power Systems Manufacturing. Michael Greene, managing partner, joined the firm in 2008 after working at UBS.

The firm’s team includes 11 investment and operating partners with an average of 30 years of operating experience in aerospace and manufacturing companies, including GEGulfstream AerospacePower Systems Manufacturing, and Hawker Beechcraft.

AE Industrial invests in companies with $50 million to $500 million of revenue, according to its website.

Under its former name of  AeroEquity Partners, the firm teamed up with Carlyle as a co-investor in the firm’s Dynamic Precision Group platform, originally acquired in 2011. In 2013, Dynamic Precision Group, a manufacturer of a turbine engine and other machined products, added on Paradigm Precision Holdings and eight manufacturing facilities owned by Unison Engine Components, a unit of GE Aviation.

AE Industrial did not respond to an email seeking comment.