Bridger Aerospace announced on July 1 that it has acquired FMS Aerospace (“FMS”). FMS, based in Huntsville, Alabama, is a turn-key provider of airframe modification and integration solutions for government and commercial customers including instrumentation, flight testing and airworthiness certification. The consideration for the transaction was $17.51 million in equity, with an additional contingent equity earn-out consideration of up to $3.09 million.
“Having partnered with the team at FMS on our Multi-Mission Aircraft (MMA) program, which supports our high-resolution surveillance, mapping, software and intelligence operations contracts, we appreciate their strong engineering, modification and manufacturing capabilities,” commented Sam Davis, Bridger’s Chief Executive Officer. “Bringing FMS into the Bridger family will bring together two experienced teams and add additional critical capabilities in house to allow us to continue to grow in mission critical areas including emergency air services, aerospace modifications and defense systems engineering.”
Jesse Whitfield, Chief Executive Officer of FMS added, “Bridger provides the physical facilities, qualified personnel and other resources we need to grow our business. We expect that the operational synergies will ultimately allow us to win larger contracts than either company can bid alone.”
Transaction Highlights
The FMS transaction is an equity-only deal with a total value of $20.6 million with restricted common stock vesting in equal parts over a two-year period. It includes $17.51 million of restricted common stock issued at close with an additional $3.09 million to be paid pro-rata over two years, upon the satisfaction of an EBITDA target. For the full year ending December 31, 2023, FMS generated $10.3 million of revenue and net income of $2.5 million. FMS had approximately $2.0 million of cash and no debt at year end 2023.
While the transaction is expected to be accretive to Bridger earnings on an annual basis after excluding transaction expenses and before anticipated synergies, the Company is not updating its guidance at this time.
About FMS Aerospace
FMS is based in Huntsville, AL and was founded in 2013 by engineers specializing in comprehensive airframe modification and integration solutions for government and commercial customers. FMS provides turn-key solutions for aircraft prototyping, integration, instrumentation and flight testing, and airworthiness certification. Its focus is on mechanical and electrical design, structural analysis, fatigue and damage tolerance analysis (DTA), static and dynamic testing, instrumentation and data acquisition, flight testing, test data analysis, and airworthiness planning and certification.
FMS’ staff includes in-house structural and electrical FAA DERs with approval authority for all Part 23, Part 25, CAR 3 and CAR 4b requirements, each with major repair and major alteration special delegation. It provides engineering support and services to a wide range of commercial and government agencies; as such, FMS maintains working knowledge of airworthiness approval processes of the FAA, NASA, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Air Force.
About Bridger Aerospace
Based in Belgrade, Montana, Bridger Aerospace is one of the nation’s largest aerial firefighting companies. Bridger provides aerial firefighting and wildfire management services to federal and state government agencies, including the United States Forest Service, across the nation, as well as internationally.
