ADIA and PAI Partners Acquire Majority Stake in Alvest

PAI (Paribas Affaires Industrielles) Partners, the Paris-based pre-eminent private equity firm, together with a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), have completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Alvest.

Alvest is the world’s number one supplier of aviation ground support equipment, through its main subsidiary TLD. Its products include aircraft loaders, tractors, ground power air conditioning and jet start units.

Ardian retains a minority stake in Alvest, alongside the company’s founders and management team, who are significantly reinvesting as part of the transaction. However, the financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Ardian had supported Alvest’s development as a majority shareholder between 2006 and 2013 as it has an outstanding management team, with whom Ardian has built a close relationship. This was crucial to Ardian’s success in agreeing our co-investment deal in 2018, alongside CDPQ and Sagard. Since investing, Ardian has taken an active role in supporting the company’s development, notably through build-ups and expansion into maintenance and services.

With a presence in airports for more than 70 years and headquartered in France, Alvest has grown to be the reference in GSE globally, providing high-performance, innovative and sustainable solutions to the aviation industry.

Alvest is a group dedicated to the design, manufacture and distribution of technical products for the aviation industry, which include aviation ground support equipment, spare parts and services.

With more than 4,000 employees and 11 industrial factories worldwide, Alvest serves customers in over 170 countries, offering a broad range of GSE products and services including new equipment sales, integrated maintenance, leasing and decarbonisation solutions.

Alvest is a key enabler of a leaner and greener aviation industry by helping airlines, ground handlers and airports reduce their Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and CO2 emissions, PAI Partners said on Wednesday.

Alvest’s Next Phase of Expansion

PAI and ADIA’s investment will support Alvest’s next phase of expansion and innovation, leveraging PAI’s deep expertise in the Industrial Goods & Services sector.

The investment will focus on enabling Alvest to accelerate the transition to electric GSE and continue growing its product and service offering, including automated or autonomous units, innovative decarbonisation solutions, resilient servicing activities, fleet management systems and maintenance services.