Trive Capital announced it has closed on the sale of Kittyhawk, Inc. to Machine Sciences, a portfolio company of Viking Global. Founded in 1981, Kittyhawk is a leading provider of Hot Isostatic Pressing services for mission-critical applications across the space, commercial aerospace, defense, and power generation end-markets, specializing in densifying cast and additively manufactured parts for high-temperature, high-pressure, high-cost-of-failure applications such as rocket and jet engine componentry.
Since Trive’s investment in Kittyhawk in late 2022, the company has experienced significant growth driven by the acquisition of Stack HIP in 2024, which added the largest high-pressure HIP vessels in North America at the company’s Albany, Oregon facility, along with sustained organic investment in equipment, capacity, and operational excellence, and strong demand trends in its core space, next-generation commercial aerospace, and defense programs. KAL Capital served as lead financial advisor and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP provided legal counsel to Trive and Kittyhawk.
Trive Capital is a Dallas, Texas-based private equity firm with more than $8 billion of regulatory assets under management, focused on investing equity and debt in strategically viable middle-market companies with potential for transformational upside through operational improvement. The firm’s team has been involved in over 250 middle-market transactions representing in excess of $10 billion in revenue across its targeted industry sectors.
KEY QUOTES:
“Kittyhawk is a highly differentiated business that has established itself as a West Coast leader in a mission critical capability to the most prolific aerospace, defense, and space programs.”
“The Company’s talented team, technical HIP expertise, and history of exceptional quality execution positioned the Company for outsized growth. Organic and inorganic investments made over the last three years allowed the team to broaden their impact to capture the market opportunity. We have greatly appreciated and enjoyed the partnership with Kittyhawk and we are excited to see the Company’s continued success with Machine Sciences.”
Tanner Cope, Partner, Trive Capital
“Trive was the right choice as the first institutional partner for a business that was family-owned for more than 40 years. Through our partnership with Trive, Kittyhawk meaningfully expanded capacity, improved cycle efficiency, and broadened the customer base while staying true to the quality and turnaround performance we’ve become known for.”
“We are grateful for Trive’s support and are excited for the Company’s next chapter with our new partners.”
Brandon Creason, President/CEO, Kittyhawk
