Houlihan Lokey Advises Pinnacle Solutions

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Pinnacle Solutions, Inc. (Pinnacle), a leading provider of innovative training and sustainment solutions, has been acquired by Akima, LLC. This transaction closed on April 25, 2023.

Headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, Pinnacle is an innovative, solution-focused company providing advanced simulation and training solutions; flight operations and training services; training content development in virtual reality, augmented reality, and web-based systems; aircraft maintenance; and technical publications development and sustainment. The company supports a broad range of customers across the Department of Defense (DoD) as well as international and commercial markets. Pinnacle has leveraged its extensive experience supporting numerous rotary- and fixed-wing aviation platforms to develop a proprietary suite of VXT© virtual training products used across its customer base to enhance training and maintenance efficacy and platform reliability efforts.

Headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, Akima is a global enterprise with 9,500 employees, delivering solutions to the federal government in the core areas of facilities and ground logistics; information technology; aerospace solutions; protective services; systems engineering; mission support; furniture, fixtures, and equipment; and construction. As a subsidiary of NANA, an Alaska Native corporation owned by more than 15,000 Iñupiat shareholders, Akima’s core mission is to enable superior outcomes for its customers’ missions while simultaneously creating a long-lived asset for NANA consistent with the Iñupiat values.

This transaction highlights several key industry themes:

• There is a continued acquirer focus on differentiated, technology-forward solutions. Pinnacle’s suite of virtual training solutions has broad applicability across the DoD's aerial, ground, and naval fleets in a highly scalable manner.
• The training market is rapidly undergoing a fundamental shift from a purely services-based market to a virtual arena as customers increasingly recognize the cost, efficiency, and efficacy benefits of virtual solutions. The U.S. Army’s spending on virtual training solutions is expected to increase by 76% by 2027. Pinnacle’s VXT© solution suite is well positioned to address this emerging market demand.
• Huntsville remains a “red-hot” market with tremendous focus on highly prioritized capabilities such as missile defense, virtual training, hypersonics, directed energy, space, and unmanned solutions. Over the past three years, Houlihan Lokey has advised Huntsville-based clients on five transactions collectively valued at north of $1 billion.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Pinnacle and marketed, structured, and negotiated the transaction on behalf of the company.

Houlihan Lokey's Government Services and Technology team is the leading M&A advisor to government services contractors and companies in the United States. This transaction demonstrates the firm’s execution excellence and strength in government services and technology. Since the beginning of 2020, Houlihan Lokey’s Government Services and Technology team has announced 21 transactions worth more than $4.4 billion.