Early history
TransDigm was formed in 1993[2] under the name TD Holding Corporation.[3] It was founded with an initial equity investment of $10 million.[4]: 228 The company was created by founders W. Nicholas Howley and Douglas Peacock, along with private equity firm Kelso & Company, in order to acquire and consolidate four industrial aerospace companies from IMO Industries Inc. in a leveraged buyout.[2][5][6]: 8 Those four companies were Adel Fasteners, Aero Products Component Services, Controlex Corporation and Wiggins Connectors.[4]: 221 Once the acquisitions were completed, TD Holding was renamed to TransDigm, Inc. and based in Richmond Heights, Ohio.[3]: 490
Originally, TransDigm manufactured and marketed a small group of aircraft components, such as batteries, pumps and fuel connectors.[3]: 490 TransDigm expanded its range of aircraft component products over time through acquisitions of other aerospace component manufacturers,[3]: 492 growing in revenues by about 25% per-year from 1993 to 1998.[7] In 1998, Odyssey Investment Partners, a private equity firm, acquired TransDigm from Kelso & Company.[5] After the September 11th attacks, the aerospace industry declined temporarily, resulting in losses and layoffs for TransDigm.[3]: 491
By 2002, TransDigm had grown to $300 million in annual revenues,[5] up from $131 million in 1999.[3]: 491 TransDigm was acquired from Odyssey Investment Partners by another private equity firm, Warburg Pincus, in 2003 for $1.1 billion.[5] In 2006, the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange.[8][4]: 220 By the following year, TransDigm had grown to $593 million in annual revenues.[3]: 492
Acquisitions
TransDigm focuses largely on acquiring other aerospace component manufacturers for expansion and growth.[3]: 492 The company acquired more than 60 businesses in its first 25 years of operations,[4]: 228 49 of which were completed after TransDigm's initial public offering in 2006.[9]
In 2010, TransDigm acquired competing aftermarket aerospace parts company McKechnie Aerospace Holdings for $1.27 billion.[10] In 2016, it bought Data Device Corp., a power, networking and electronics company, for $1 billion.[11] Two years later, TransDigm purchased a competing parts manufacturer, Esterline, for $4 billion.[12] This was the largest acquisition in TransDigm's history.[9]
In March 2022, TransDigm acquired the Montreal-based helicopter mission equipment company, DART Aerospace for approximately $360 million in cash.[13]
In May 2023, TransDigm acquired aviation and transportation research company Calspan for $725 million.[14][15]
In November 2023, TransDigm acquired Electron Device Business of Communications & Power Industries for $1.39 billion.[16]
In January 2026, TransDigm agreed to acquire Jet Parts Engineering and Victor Sierra Aviation Holdings from PE firm Vance Street Capital for $2.2 billion in cash.[17]
