AE Industrial Partners is a private investment firm focused on technologies and services considered critical to aerospace and national and economic security. Founded in 1998 by father-son team Brian and David Rowe, AEI manages $7.2 billion in assets from their headquarters in Boca Raton, FL.
“(W)ithout space as a backbone of that infrastructure our modern day economy sort of collapses at this point.”
Kirk Konert, AE Industrial Partners
On this edition of The Journal of Space Commerce podcast, Tom Patton talks with Kirk Konert, A Managing Partner with the firm.
AE Industrial Partners supports multiple verticals in the commercial space sector, with several companies involved in the space supply chain. Company co-founder Brian Rowe came from GE Aviation, and the company still is interested in things that fly, and things that make things fly.
The company has also invested in such firms as Firefly Aerospace, York Space Systems, Redwire and others. In fact, Konert said that AEI has been the most active private investment firm in space over the past several years. “We believe space has been at an inflection point in industrialization, where it’s become a key part of our economy and infrastructure for driving our economy globally,” Konert said. “And without space as a backbone of that infrastructure our modern day economy sort of collapses at this point.”
The company this week announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling interest in the Space Propulsion and Power Systems business of L3Harris Technologies. The transaction encompasses business units across five locations in the U.S., which have developed the upper-stage rocket engines used in national security, civil and commercial missions for more than 60 years, as well as in-space propulsion, nuclear power and avionics assets.
L3Harris will retain a minority investment interest and continue to act as a strategic partner to the business. AE Industrial plans to restore and use the “Rocketdyne” name for the acquired business in recognition of its heritage and longstanding innovation within space propulsion technology.
