Tiger Infrastructure Partners Announces Fund II Sale of FBO Leader Modern Aviation

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Nov 02, 2023, 16:45 ET

NEW YORK and LONDON, Nov. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tiger Infrastructure Partners ("Tiger") today announced the full exit of its Fund II investment in Modern Aviation ("Modern") through a transaction led by infrastructure funds managed by Apollo (NYSE: APO). As part of the transaction, funds managed by Tiger will also invest new capital alongside Apollo funds to fund future growth of the company.

Modern Aviation hangar at one of its 16 US locations.

Tiger CEO Emil W. Henry, Jr. said: "Modern Aviation is a good case study of how Tiger's approach to growth infrastructure investing can produce a step change in value by providing transformational growth capital and applying value-add resources. Exiting Modern now delivers another full realization for our 2017-vintage Fund II, following closely on the heels of our recently announced sale of Zenobē to KKR Infrastructure. These transactions exemplify our strategy of creating world-class, blue-chip infrastructure businesses that meet the demands of the real economy while providing growth platforms into which larger infrastructure investors can invest at scale. We call it "feeding the food chain" within the broader global infrastructure ecosystem."

Modern is a market leading US fixed base operator ("FBO") platform that Tiger formed in early 2018 in collaboration with Modern's management team to acquire, upgrade, expand and operate FBOs around the United States. Since then, Modern has acquired 16 locations through nine separate transactions from family and individual owners to create a top-five player in the highly fragmented FBO industry.

Tiger Senior Managing Director Adam Emmert said: "We've been pleased to work collaboratively with the Modern Aviation management team for over six years to build their business. In the early years, the senior team co-located with us in our New York offices as we worked closely to launch the Modern platform. Tiger takes an active, hands-on role to accelerating growth at our portfolio companies and it has been rewarding for us to help Modern achieve its transformation from a small team with a single location into a market leader in the US FBO industry."

Tiger provides transformative growth capital to create, expand or consolidate infrastructure assets and companies into blue-chip middle market infrastructure platforms. Like Modern, more than 50% of Tiger's portfolio companies have co-located with Tiger in its New York and/or London offices. Working closely and collaboratively with management, Tiger's talented team of nearly 50 professionals and Operating Partners take a hands-on approach to helping management teams grow their companies. In the case of Modern, Tiger Operating Partner Emmanuel Yapo is one of Modern's co-founders and serves as its Executive Vice President leading M&A and other strategic initiatives, having previously played a similar role at Atlantic Aviation.

Read more about Tiger's exits from Modern (here) and Zenobe (here).

About Modern Aviation
Modern Aviation is a growing company that is building a national network of premium FBO properties. Modern Aviation's strategy is to acquire and develop FBO operations in growth markets and to focus on providing exceptional service, extraordinary quality, and industry leading safety. Modern Aviation is actively engaged in pursuing additional FBO acquisitions and development opportunities in North America. For more information visit: https://modern-aviation.com.

About Tiger Infrastructure Partners
Tiger Infrastructure Partners is an innovative private equity firm focused on providing transformational growth capital to middle market infrastructure companies. Tiger's value-add approach targets growth investments across the Digital Infrastructure, Energy Transition and Transportation sectors in North America and Europe, where Tiger believes strong tailwinds are driving demand for new infrastructure. Tiger maintains offices in New York and London. For more information, visit www.tigerinfrastructure.com.

SOURCE Tiger Infrastructure Partners