Trive Capital exits Kittyhawk in sale to Viking-backed Machine Sciences

Trive Capital has sold Kittyhawk, a provider of hot isostatic pressing services with operations in California and Oregon, PE Hub reported. The buyer is Machine Sciences, which PE Hub identified as a portfolio company of Viking Global.

Financial terms were not included in PE Hub’s report. The absence of a disclosed price limits outside assessment of the transaction’s valuation, return profile or leverage structure.

Kittyhawk serves customers in commercial aerospace, defense and power generation, according to PE Hub. The company was founded in 1981, giving the business a long operating history in specialized industrial services.

Trive invested in Kittyhawk in late 2022, PE Hub reported. The sale therefore marks an exit by the Dallas-based private equity firm from an industrial services asset tied to end markets where manufacturing quality, component reliability and supply-chain capacity are central considerations for customers.

What changed hands

PE Hub described Kittyhawk as a provider of hot isostatic pressing services. In transaction terms, the asset is a services business rather than a manufacturer of finished aircraft, defense or power-generation systems. Its customers operate in sectors where outsourced technical processes can form part of a broader production and qualification chain.

The buyer, Machine Sciences, is backed by Viking Global, according to PE Hub. That ownership detail places Kittyhawk under a platform already supported by a large investment manager, rather than under Trive’s control.

Known deal details

• Seller: Trive Capital, according to PE Hub.
• Target: Kittyhawk, a California and Oregon-based hot isostatic pressing services provider.
• Buyer: Machine Sciences, identified by PE Hub as a Viking Global portfolio company.
• End markets: commercial aerospace, defense and power generation, according to PE Hub.
• Trive investment date: late 2022, according to PE Hub.
• Company founding: 1981, according to PE Hub.

The transaction adds to private-capital activity around industrial and technical services suppliers that support aerospace, defense and energy-related manufacturing. PE Hub did not report whether Kittyhawk’s management team will remain in place, whether any debt financing was used, or whether the acquisition will be integrated into Machine Sciences under a specific operating plan.

Without those additional terms, the confirmed facts are limited to the change in ownership, the parties involved and Kittyhawk’s operating focus. The deal transfers a long-established specialist services company from one private equity sponsor’s portfolio into another private-capital-backed platform.

This story draws on original reporting from PE Hub.