I Squared Capital agreed to acquire Orizon Aerostructures, citing life-of-program contracts and cost pass-through. Terms were not disclosed; Bloomberg had reported a valuation of about $2 billion.
Infrastructure funds usually buy pipelines, power plants and data centers. I Squared Capital has found a similar profile in an aerospace manufacturer.
I Squared Capital signed a definitive agreement to acquire Orizon Aerostructures, a maker of advanced aerospace components, the two companies said on Wednesday. Financial terms were not disclosed. Bloomberg had reported on Tuesday that the deal valued Orizon at about $2 billion. Orizon's management will reinvest a meaningful amount of equity, and the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026. Orizon is owned by American Industrial Partners.
The infrastructure argument
The two companies framed the business in infrastructure terms: contracts that run for the life of an aircraft program and the ability to pass costs through to customers. Those features can produce long-dated, predictable cash flows that resemble the contracted revenue infrastructure investors seek in a utility or a toll road.
Bloomberg's report described Orizon as a supplier to the F-35 program.
Stretching the definition
The supportive reading is that long-term defense and aerospace contracts with cost pass-through do resemble infrastructure, and that patient capital is a good fit for a business tied to multi-decade programs.
The skeptical reading is that a manufacturer still carries operational, labor and program risks that a pipeline does not, and that calling it infrastructure does not remove them. Without disclosed terms, investors also cannot judge what multiple I Squared is paying for that predictability.
What to watch
Disclosure of terms in any regulatory filings, the closing in the fourth quarter, and whether other infrastructure investors pursue similar aerospace and defense suppliers.