Inflexion, a leading European mid market private equity firm, is pleased to announce that it has won Mid-Market Manager of the Year and Mid-Market Exit of the Year for the sale of Avantus Aerospace at the Mergermarket European Private Equity Awards 2026.
During the judging period, Inflexion invested €900 million into six new investments across Europe and supported 79 acquisitions for its portfolio across 14 countries globally. The firm also announced three exits, including the sale of Avantus Aerospace, with a combined EV of approximately €1.5 billion.
Alongside its investment and exit activity, Inflexion successfully closed Buyout Fund VII at its hard cap of €4.5 billion after six months in the market. The fund surpassed its initial target of €3.75 billion and is significantly larger than its predecessor, Inflexion Buyout Fund VI, which closed at £2.5 billion in 2022.
Inflexion's team grew to over 200 people during the judging period, while the firm continued to expand its international footprint and capabilities. It opened its sixth office, in New York, with a team focused on helping portfolio companies accelerate their expansion into North America through transformational M&A. The firm also made a record 42 promotions, appointed its first Chief People Officer and a new Head of Healthcare, and continued to embed AI across all its functions.
Avantus Aerospace is a global leader in C-Class components for the aerospace and defence industry. Inflexion partnered with Auctus Industries in 2015 to back the secondary buyout of Shimtech, which was renamed Avantus Aerospace in 2020. The business was sold to Arcline Investment Management, with the business joining Novaria Group, an Arcline portfolio company.
Under Inflexion's ownership Avantus was considerably strengthened. The dual impact of the 737 MAX suspension and Covid-19 prompted wide-ranging transformational financial, organisational, commercial and operational initiatives underpinned by a new senior leadership team. Combined with targeted acquisitions, this broadened Avantus’ customer base and expanded its product range. Together these changes delivered rapid performance improvement. Revenue more than doubled and EBITDA increased by 2.4x during Inflexion's investment.
Recognition like this is a testament to our team and the exceptional businesses we back across Europe. We thank our investors, advisers and network for their continued trust, and we're excited to keep helping ambitious, mid-market companies scale, internationalise and succeed.
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