In Defense of M&A: Deals in aerospace and defense are likely to heat up, and PE firms can expect competition from European acquirers (from Investment

The manufacturing and assembly of the airline industry's next wave of large passenger airplanes like the double deck Airbus A380 and Boeing 767 is really just beginning to ramp up, says Paul Weisbrich, a senior managing director at RSM EquiCo Capital Markets. "The entire aerospace and defense manufacturing base, whether it's metals or composites, has everyone thinking about whether to invest or merge. There is a level of euphoria in the aerospace industry that people haven't felt for a long time."
Renewed M&A interest in the market couldn't come at a better time for Costa Mesa, Calif.-based investment bank RSM EquiCo, which is holding its third annual aerospace and defense symposium on June 4 in Marina Del Rey, Calif. The event will feature a keynote address from retired Major General Charles Vyvyan, panels featuring Joseph Berenato, chief executive of Ducommun, composite materials maker HITCO, as well as a private equity session featuring Mark Jrolf, a partner at Heritage Partners, and Hammond Kennedy Whitney partner Ted Kramer.
Weisbrich, who's been meeting with executives from Boeing and other aerospace companies, says that the aerospace supply chain boom will really take place in mid-2009. "Right now people have contracts, but they're not really manufacturing the planes," he says.