Argosy Private Equity News

We are pleased to announce that Argosy Private Equity exited its portfolio investment in ACL Airshop through a sale to Alinda Capital Partners, an infrastructure investment firm.

Founded in 1983, ACL Airshop is a global leader in air cargo Unit Load Device (ULD) solutions provider to the air cargo industry. The company leases, manages, sells, and repairs ULDs and manufactures cargo nets, straps, and related equipment. Today, ACL Airshop operates around the world on six continents with service capabilities at over 50 of the world’s top 100 cargo hub airports.

In February 2016, Argosy led an acquisition of the business along with Steve Townes, a repeat CEO for Argosy. Immediately following the investment, the ACL management team began an aggressive growth plan which included the implementation of specific tools from Argosy’s Value Acceleration Methodology (“VAM™”). ACL expanded and diversified its customer base, added new strategic locations around the world and rolled out the Company’s tech-enabled ULD management software, ULD ControlTM.

“ACL Airshop’s entrepreneurial and customer driven management team, led by aviation industry icon and four-time repeat Argosy portfolio company CEO, Steve Townes, transformed a great air cargo logistics business into an industry leading, technology-enabled, critical infrastructure company. We look forward to seeing where ACL’s growth trajectory will take it next.”, said Kirk Griswold, Founding Partner, Argosy Private Equity.

“Argosy and I have successfully partnered together since late 2001 across four separate growth platforms over the years. Argosy’s VAM™ tools have always been very helpful in driving growth and value creation. With our latest venture together, ACL Airshop, we achieved excellent growth in operations and profitability, and drove to a successful well-valued exit despite the global pandemic,” said Steve Townes, the CEO at ACL.