Houlihan Lokey Advises Unical

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that it has served as a financial advisor to Unical Aviation Inc. (Unical), a portfolio company of Platinum Equity, on its proposed sale to Satair, an Airbus company. The transaction was announced  on November 7, 2025.

Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Glendale, Arizona, Unical supplies aircraft parts and components to thousands of aviation customers around the globe. With roughly 90 million parts and more than 1 million unique airframe and engine part numbers in stock, Unical is one of the largest global suppliers of new and used serviceable material for the commercial aerospace industry. In addition, ecube, a Unical company, provides industry-leading aircraft storage, disassembly, and transition services at locations in St. Athan, Wales, Castellón, Spain, and Coolidge, Arizona.

Founded in 1995 by Tom Gores, Platinum Equity is a global investment firm with approximately $50 billion of assets under management and a portfolio of approximately 60 operating companies that serve customers around the world. Platinum Equity specializes in mergers, acquisitions, and operations—a trademarked strategy it calls M&A&O®—acquiring and operating companies in a broad range of business markets, including manufacturing, distribution, transportation and logistics, equipment rental, metals services, media and entertainment, technology, telecommunications, and other industries. Over the past 30 years Platinum Equity has completed more than 500 acquisitions.

Satair is a global company and world leader in the commercial aerospace aftermarket. The company supports the complete lifecycle of the aircraft with a full and integrated portfolio of flexible, value-adding material management products, services, and tailored support modules across all platforms. As a key part of Airbus customer services, Satair has exclusive or primary distribution arrangements for aerospace component manufacturers and supplies parts to multi-fleet customer airlines and MRO companies. It also fulfills the material service support obligation for the in-service fleet of more than 12,000 Airbus aircraft.

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and other closing conditions and is expected to be finalized in early 2026.

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