Houlihan Lokey Advises Ridgewood Infrastructure

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Ridgewood Infrastructure (Ridgewood) has acquired Dauntless Air (Dauntless). The transaction closed on June 4, 2026.

Ridgewood is a leading investor focused on essential infrastructure in the U.S. lower middle market. Ridgewood partners with management teams to build, scale, and professionalize infrastructure companies that provide critical services to customers and communities.

Dauntless owns and operates the nation’s largest and most technologically advanced fleet of Fire Boss aircraft. These specialized water-scooping air tankers, also known as single engine scoopers, are purpose-built to rapidly attack and contain wildfires that threaten people, land, and property. Dauntless deploys these aircraft, highly trained personnel, and support equipment under long-term government contracts for wildfire suppression services.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Ridgewood. This transaction exemplifies the continued success of Houlihan Lokey’s Aerospace, Defense & Government (ADG) practice within the aviation services market segment. Among the largest dedicated industry banking teams worldwide, the ADG practice has closed 90+ transactions worth more than $17 billion in enterprise value since 2020. In 2025, Houlihan Lokey’s Industrials Group was ranked as the No. 1 M&A advisor for global industrials transactions under $5 billion, according to LSEG.*

*Excludes accounting firms and brokers.

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