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Wheels Up has sold three of its “non-core” companies—Kenyon Emergency Services, Baines Simmons and Redline Assured Security—to TrustFlight, an aviation safety and compliance provider based in London, for $20 million in proceeds before transaction costs, the company says.
Wheels Up says it plans to reinvest the net proceeds from the sale to “further its ongoing fleet modernization and for general corporate purposes.”
Kenyon Emergency Services, founded in 1906, is an emergency preparedness and response firm; Baines Simmons, founded in 2001, is a training provider focused on aviation regulations, risk, compliance and safety management, while Redline Assured Security is a provider of integrated security software and provides Threat Image Recognition Training (TIRT) for front line airport staff and Quality Assurance through live Covert Testing (CT).
“The divestiture of these non-core services businesses is the latest in a series of steps that Wheels Up has taken to sharpen our strategic focus; invest in our product, fleet and operations; and strengthen our balance sheet,” Wheels Up CEO George Mattson says. “The sale, along with our recently announced initiatives estimated to drive approximately $50 million of cost efficiencies, is expected to create meaningful tailwinds on our path to sustained, profitable growth.”
For TrustFlight, the acquisition positions it as an integrated partner that combines training and regulatory expertise, aviation security and quality assurance and critical-incident support services, it says.
The combined group will serve about 1,600 aviation organizations globally, such as airports, operators, MROs and OEMs.
The three businesses will retain their existing management teams, brands, engineering expertise and sales capabilities, TrustFlight says. There are no immediate operational changes planned.
“Safety in aviation is a lifecycle, not a point solution or set of vendors,” says Karl Steeves, CEO of TrustFlight. “By bringing together the strengths of these three companies with TrustFlight’s software and data platform, we’re building an operating system for safety that helps anticipate risks earlier, prove compliance continuously, and recover faster when events occur. We’re excited about the capabilities these companies bring to TrustFlight.”
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