Wynnchurch Capital, a middle-market private equity firm, announced that its newly formed portfolio company, Heligear Acquisition Holdings Co., has acquired substantially all of the operating assets of Northstar Aerospace, Inc. and its subsidiaries (NSA) through court administered insolvency proceedings in both the United States and Canada. PNC Business Credit provided senior debt financing to support the acquisition.

Headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Bedford Park, IL, the company is a leading manufacturer of flight-critical and non-flight-critical parts for military and commercial aircraft applications. The company will continue to operate under the “Northstar Aerospace” name and employ substantially the entire NSA workforce. Prior to the acquisition, NSA was publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

“The message for our customers, suppliers and employees is that Northstar Aerospace is stronger than ever and we are committed to working closely with all key constituents to improve service levels and lower costs for our customers. We are excited and honored to be a key partner supplier for leading global military aircraft programs, including the AH-64 Apache Block III, the CH-47 Chinook and the UH-60 Black Hawk. We are proud to be able to support our customers and warfighters around the world,” said Dave McConnaughey, the company’s new president and CEO.

Terry Theodore, partner with Wynnchurch, said, “Northstar is a leader and innovator in the aerospace industry and has a decades-old reputation for providing the highest quality products to its customers. We look forward to partnering with Dave McConnaughey and the rest of the Northstar management team to continue driving improvements in the business.”

The company recently received confirmation of its role as the single source supplier of Face Gear transmission components for The Boeing Company’s AH-64 Apache Block lll program. This program has recently been approved for full rate production. Also in recent news, Rolls-Royce announced the renewal of its long standing manufacturing agreements for the manufacture of precision aircraft gearing for both military and commercial aircraft. The Company supplies product and manufacturing support to Rolls-Royce in connection with these renewed agreements. The company is also a key supplier to GE Aviation, Honeywell Aerospace, United Technologies’ Sikorsky Aircraft and other leading aerospace OEMs.

Alvarez & Marsal served as transaction advisor to Wynnchurch and Vedder Price P.C. acted as legal counsel to Wynnchurch and the Company.

Previously on abfjournal.com:

Northstar Obtains Extension of DIP Financing, Tuesday, August 21, 2012