Causeway Aero Group, a full design, build and supply chain management company, has acquired Belfast Aircraft Stress Engineers Ltd (BASE).
This is its first acquisition and the company will also move to new premises in Lisburn. Altogether this represents a seven-figure investment.
The company aims to be a ‘one-stop-shop’ of manufacturing and technical solutions combining quality management, procurement, subcontract and assembly capabilities. It primarily operates in the aerospace and mass transit sectors.
BASE’s 16-man design, stress and technical team has over 18 years of experience working on cutting edge programmes for top flight customers such as Bombardier, GKN, BAE Systems, Thales, Marshalls and Thompsons to name but a few.
Michael Rice, CEO of Causeway Aero, who was appointed in July 2018, sees this as representing a huge step forward in capabilities.
He said, “Adding this level of design, stress, technical publications and experience in-house to our current quality management, procurement, subcontract manufacture and assembly capabilities completes the true ‘one-stop-shop’ offering we give our clients. This will significantly enhance the agility of our aerospace supply chain solution.
“I’m also delighted to announce that BASE’s Strategic Development Director, Pete Hinds, joins the Causeway Board as Vice President, Engineering Services and, among other things, will immediately oversee the up scaling of the design team.
“With the collective work we've been doing over these last few months we already give a real and innovative solution, through full engineering, supply chain management and assembly. This, along with our new premises in Lisburn, paves the way for new growth and exciting opportunities.”
Causeway Aero, which has continually advocated collaborative networking, is now working on a number of new projects covering aerospace and railway structures and aircraft interior products with its own novel design concepts.
The Causeway announcement was welcomed by Dr Leslie Orr, NI Director of ADS the National Trade body for the Aerospace, Defence, Security and Space Industries. He said “Northern Ireland has a very strong aerospace cluster of supply chain companies and is a top performing region reflected by the SC21 Aerospace Business excellence awards.
“Collaboration like this, joining up in-house design expertise and an agile supply chain is another step in contributing to the growth of the industry.”
The acquisition was managed by John McMahon and Lauren McGarry of Keystone Law.
Operating from Lisburn, Causeway Aero is an AS9100 accredited provider of design, build, procurement, sub-contract manufacture and assembly solutions for global industries. It is supported by its founding investor companies, Denroy Plastics Ltd and Moyola Precision Engineering Ltd, both of which have been awarded SC21 Gold in the Bombardier Supply Chain Programme.
Photo: Pictured (LtoR) Lauren McGarry and John McMahon of Keystone Law, with Michael Rice, CEO, Pete Hinds, VP, Business Development, both of Causeway Aero Group Ltd, and Causeway Aero Group board members, Kevin McNamee (Denroy Plastics), Mark Semple (Moyola Precision Engineering) and John Rainey (Denroy Plastics)