Aerospace & Defense M&A Advisor in Florida
Sell an Aerospace and Defense Company in Florida
Primes, defense-focused private equity and new-space companies are buying Florida suppliers that already hold the certifications, clearances and program positions they need. Each buyer reads your defense, commercial aerospace and space revenue differently, and ITAR, CMMC and contract rules shape every deal. We help you see what your company is worth to each buyer and close without losing programs, people or qualifications.
Suppliers with $1 million or more in EBITDA work with our mergers and acquisitions consultants. Smaller shops work with our Florida business brokers. Either way, you start with a confidential conversation about what you want next.
Two Ways to Sell an Aerospace and Defense Company in Florida. We Match the Process to Your Company.
Your end-market mix, compliance profile, programs and the buyers active in your segment decide which path fits.
Mergers and Acquisitions Consultant
A&D Suppliers Valued Around $5M and Above
For defense, aerospace and space suppliers hearing from primes, tier-one suppliers and A&D-focused private equity. Work directly with a mergers and acquisitions consultant who runs a competitive process and puts every offer on the same page.
- Split revenue by end market. Show defense, commercial aerospace and space revenue and margin by program and customer so buyers price the real mix.
- Map compliance first. ITAR registration, CMMC status, clearances and set-aside exposure decide which buyers can actually close.
- Compare the whole offer. Weigh cash at closing against rollover equity, earn-outs and your role after the sale.
- Protect value through closing. Line up ITAR notices, novation, size recertification and key engineer retention alongside your legal and export counsel.
Business Brokerage
Smaller Build-to-Print Shops
Our brokerage team helps smaller build-to-print and precision suppliers sell to regional manufacturers, owner-operators and SBA-backed buyers, with the confidentiality defense customers expect.
- Price on real earnings. Present seller’s discretionary earnings, customer mix and equipment value so a buyer and their SBA lender can say yes.
- Reach qualified buyers confidentially. Screen buyers, their financing and their ownership before anyone learns which company is for sale.
- Show the team stays. Document machinists, inspectors and certifications so buyers see a shop that keeps running.
- Plan the handover. Script customer, employee and registrar communication and your transition period before closing.
Not sure which path fits your company? Start with a conversation →
M&A Advisory Services for Aerospace and Defense Suppliers at Every Stage
From the first “should I sell my A&D company?” conversation to the wire at closing, and the years of preparation in between.
Sell-Side M&A Advisory for Aerospace and Defense Suppliers
Preparation, compliance and end-market review, confidential outreach to primes, tier-one suppliers and A&D investors, and a competitive process through diligence and closing.
See our M&A advisor services →Exit Planning for A&D Owners
For owners one to five years out. We identify what a buyer will pay for, what they will discount, and the steps that raise value: CMMC readiness, less program concentration, deeper certifications and a management team that runs programs without you.
Learn more →Compliance and Contract Review
ITAR registration and licenses, CMMC status, clearances, set-aside exposure, novation needs and a realistic working capital target, so the price you agree to is the price you receive at closing.
Learn more →A&D Supplier Valuation
A defensible view of what your company is worth to each buyer type, by end market and program, the drivers behind that number, and what would move it. Delivered as part of an advisory or exit planning engagement.
Learn more →Unsolicited Offer Review
Received a letter of intent from a prime or investor? We assess the buyer, the structure, its ownership and compliance fit and the market before you respond, so a single offer does not set your price.
Learn more →Smaller Build-to-Print Shops
A licensed, confidential sale process for smaller precision and build-to-print suppliers, with the same care we bring to larger transactions.
Meet our Florida business brokers →
PERSONAL. ON PURPOSE.
People you know.
Advice you can
talk through.
Rajiv Khatri
Managing Partner
Sarah Khatri
Managing Partner
We’ve built and sold businesses ourselves. We understand why selling an aerospace and defense company reaches far beyond the deal: the engineers and machinists you trusted with work that cannot fail, the program managers who chose your shop, and the certifications your team earned audit by audit.
Sailfish is boutique by intention. We take time to understand your priorities, explain the tradeoffs between a prime, a defense-focused private equity platform and a strategic acquirer, and help you make informed decisions through an important transition.
Our faith informs how we serve: with integrity in our advice, stewardship of what you’ve built, and care for the people a transition touches.
The Credentials Behind Every Closing
Sailfish advisors are trained, certified, and licensed by the industry's most respected associations.
A clear path from your first question to the sale of your aerospace and defense company.
Discuss your goals. Prepare your company. Move forward with guidance. Our process gives an A&D sale structure, and we tailor the work for exit planning, a partner buyout or an offer already on the table.
Discuss your goals
Spend about 30 minutes with a managing partner discussing your company, your timing and what you want your role to be after a sale. We help identify a useful next step.
Agree on the approach
Decide whether a brokerage sale to a regional or individual buyer, or an advisory process with primes, tier-one suppliers and A&D investors, fits. Clarify scope, responsibilities and expectations before the engagement begins.
Prepare the company
Build the compliance map, split revenue by end market and program, document certifications and approvals and rebuild adjusted EBITDA before any buyer sees terms.
Engage suitable buyers
Present the business confidentially to screened buyers whose ownership and compliance profile let them keep your programs, clearances and approvals.
Navigate the transaction
Compare offers on the same page, then work through negotiation, ITAR notices, novation, size recertification, key engineer retention, working capital and closing alongside your legal, export and tax advisors.
Aerospace and defense knowledge. Real buyer relationships.
Every aerospace and defense segment has its own buyers, its own compliance load and its own reasons a deal falls apart. We work in the categories where we know all three: who is acquiring right now, what they pay for, and what they walk away from. With 3,500 qualified buyers, PE platforms and strategic acquirers already in our network, your company goes to the people most likely to value it.
Avionics · Sensors · Communications→ Precision Components→ Space & Launch Supply Chain→ Satellite & Ground Systems→ Aircraft MRO→ Engineering & Test Services→ Special Processes & Coatings→ Composites & Structures→ Simulation & Training→ Cable & Harness Assembly→ Government Services Contractors→ Industrial Plant ServicesSeparate guide for industrial services companies→
700+ Florida Business Owners Trust Us
Real stories from owners who sold, scaled, and succeeded with Sailfish.
We’re listening. Not sure what your next step is? That is a good place to start.
“I’m thinking
about selling my aerospace and defense company.”
“I want to step back
in a few years.”
“A competitor just
made me an offer.”
Selling an aerospace and defense company in Florida: your questions answered.
You don’t need every answer before starting a conversation.
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Qualifications that are hard to earn and hard to replace: AS9100 and special-process approvals, customer source approvals, a clean compliance file covering ITAR and CMMC, and positions on long-running programs. Buyers pay most when revenue is spread across end markets and customers and a management team runs the programs without the owner.
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It depends on the business. A&D suppliers worth about $5 million or more belong in a structured M&A process aimed at primes, tier-one suppliers and A&D-focused investors. Smaller build-to-print shops usually sell to regional manufacturers or individual buyers through a Florida business broker.
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Yes. Under 22 CFR 122.4, ITAR registrants must notify the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls in writing within five days of certain changes, including changes in ownership and senior officers. If the buyer is a foreign person, DDTC must receive at least 60 days’ advance notice of the intended sale or transfer.
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CMMC requirements began phasing into defense contracts after the DFARS rule took effect on November 10, 2025. Buyers now check whether a supplier handling controlled unclassified information has completed the required assessment. Gaps in CMMC compliance can reduce value or shift remediation costs into the deal terms.
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In an asset sale, government contracts usually require a novation agreement under FAR Subpart 42.12 before the buyer is recognized as the contractor. In a stock sale, the contracting entity stays the same. The choice affects timing, risk and which buyers are practical.
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It can. After a merger or acquisition, contractors generally must recertify size status, and if the combined company is no longer small, eligibility for future set-aside awards and some option periods may change. Map set-aside revenue and model the effect of each potential buyer before choosing one.
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Some large, high-quality platforms and carve-outs have traded in the high teens to 20 times EBITDA, according to Datasite’s December 2025 review. Private Florida suppliers are priced on their own earnings, end-market mix, program concentration, certifications and compliance status, so headline multiples are not a reliable guide.
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That is often the best time to talk. Reaching the CMMC level your contracts require, reducing program concentration, adding certifications and building a team that runs programs without you all take time, and each one changes what buyers will pay.
Thinking about selling your aerospace and defense company?
For 25+ years, we’ve helped Florida owners protect what they built and get the full value of it. The certifications, programs and people you earned deserve the same care.
Selling Your Aerospace and Defense Company: Expert Guides & Insights
Stewardship, legacy, and the next chapter.
An aerospace and defense company is more than a balance sheet. It is years of audits passed and certifications earned, engineers and machinists you trusted with work that cannot fail, and program managers who chose your shop when the stakes were highest. We treat the sale as stewardship: honest advice even when it is not what you hoped to hear, a pace set by your goals rather than our calendar, and the willingness to tell you when a buyer or a deal is the wrong fit. We believe this work is a calling, and we try to do it the way we would want it done for our own family.
Sell an Aerospace and Defense Company in Florida: Certifications, Contracts and Clearances
By Rajiv Khatri, Managing Partner, Sailfish Equity Advisors
The Space Coast Is Hiring. Buyers Are Shopping for the Suppliers Behind It.
Drive down U.S. 1 through Melbourne and you pass the evidence. On October 15, 2026, satellite maker CesiumAstro announced a new Melbourne facility for engineering and hardware production, expected to add 100 jobs within a year (Via Satellite). Primes and new-space companies keep expanding along the Space Coast and in Florida's defense corridors. If you want to sell your aerospace and defense company in Florida, those expansions are your buyer pool's shopping list. They need qualified suppliers, and they would rather buy one than wait years to qualify a new one.
Sailfish Equity Advisors represents Florida aerospace, defense and space suppliers, from precision component makers to electronics and engineering services firms, in confidential sales to strategic and financial buyers. We have closed more than 700 transactions over 25 years. In this sector, the deals that close cleanly are the ones where the owner sorted out export, cybersecurity and contract issues before the first buyer asked.
A&D is a boring business in the best way. Long programs, sticky qualifications, customers who cannot easily switch suppliers. Buyers pay for that. They also pay close attention to the rules that come with it.
Defense, Commercial Aerospace and Space: Three Revenue Streams, Three Buyer Reads
Most Florida A&D suppliers serve more than one end market. Buyers look at each stream on its own terms, so you should too.
Defense revenue. Programs funded through the federal budget, often running for many years. Buyers like the visibility and the barriers to entry. They worry about program concentration, budget timing and compliance obligations that come with defense work.
Commercial aerospace revenue. Parts and services for commercial aircraft and engines. Volume follows airline demand and aircraft build rates. Buyers value long-term agreements with OEMs and tier-one suppliers, and they watch exposure to production slowdowns.
Space revenue. Launch, satellite and ground systems work, much of it concentrated in Florida. High growth and high excitement, but also customers that are younger, faster-moving and in some cases still proving their business models. Buyers tend to value space revenue for growth and discount it for customer risk.
Here is how that comparison usually plays out with buyers:
Visibility. Defense programs and long-term commercial agreements score high. Space work varies widely by customer.
Barriers to entry. All three can be high when the work requires qualifications, special processes or cleared facilities.
Customer risk. Lowest with established primes and government programs, higher with early-stage space companies.
Compliance load. Heaviest for defense work, because of export control, cybersecurity and security clearance requirements.
Present your revenue split by end market, program and customer with margin for each. A buyer who can see the mix prices it. A buyer who cannot assumes the riskiest version.
ITAR: Two Deadlines Every Seller Should Know
If your company is registered with the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls under ITAR, a sale triggers notice requirements. Under 22 CFR 122.4, registrants must notify DDTC in writing within five days of certain changes, including changes in owners, senior officers and legal structure. If the buyer is a foreign person, the registrant must give DDTC at least 60 days' advance notice of the intended sale or transfer of ownership or control (22 CFR 122.4).
That 60-day rule matters for deal timing. A foreign buyer, or a U.S. buyer with significant foreign ownership, adds a regulatory clock that has to start before closing. It can also trigger review of your export licenses and agreements. Know your registration status, your licenses and your technical data controls before a buyer asks, and involve export counsel early.
CMMC: The Cybersecurity Requirement Buyers Now Check First
The Defense Department's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program began phasing into contracts after its DFARS rule took effect on November 10, 2025 (Cooley). For any supplier handling controlled unclassified information, CMMC status is now a diligence item that can make or break a deal.
Buyers will ask what level you need for your contracts, whether you have completed the required self-assessment or third-party assessment, what your system security plan looks like and how much it would cost to close any gaps. A supplier that is assessed and compliant keeps its defense customers through a sale. A supplier that is not may be handing the buyer an expensive project, and the buyer will price it in.
Facility Clearances and Foreign Ownership
If your company holds a facility security clearance for classified work, a change in ownership has to be reported to the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, and a buyer with foreign ownership, control or influence can put the clearance at risk unless mitigated. Cleared facilities are valuable precisely because they are hard to get. Losing one in a sale can destroy much of what the buyer paid for.
If you hold a clearance, plan the transaction structure with that in mind from the start. The right buyer is not just the highest bid. It is the highest bid that can keep the clearance.
Contracts: Stock Sales, Asset Sales and Novation
How you structure the sale changes what happens to your government contracts.
In a stock sale, the contracting entity stays the same, so prime contracts generally remain in place with the same company. In an asset sale, government contracts usually need a novation agreement under FAR Subpart 42.12, where the government agrees to recognize the buyer as the new contractor. Novation takes time and paperwork, and until it is approved, the seller often remains on the hook.
There is one more rule small businesses miss. After a merger or acquisition, a contractor that holds small business set-aside contracts generally has to recertify its size status, and if the combined company is no longer small, future set-aside work and some option periods may be affected. If your revenue depends on set-asides, a large buyer can quietly change the value of your contract base. Map which contracts are set-aside and model the effect before you pick a buyer.
Certifications and Supply Chain: What a Buyer Audits
Beyond regulation, buyers audit the qualifications that let you do the work:
Quality system certification such as AS9100, along with any Nadcap accreditations for special processes. Confirm what your registrar requires after a change in ownership.
Customer approvals and source qualifications with each prime and tier-one supplier, and whether they transfer.
Component provenance. Buyers increasingly scrutinize where your components come from. Panelists in a December 2025 Datasite review flagged dependencies on Chinese components such as electronics and magnets as potential disqualifiers for defense work (Datasite).
Program concentration. If one program or one prime is most of your revenue, expect buyers to price that risk.
What Buyers Pay, and Why Headlines Mislead
You may read that high-quality A&D assets trade in the high teens to 20 times EBITDA. That Datasite commentary describes large, sought-after platforms and carve-outs, not a privately held Florida supplier with $3 million of EBITDA. Private suppliers are priced on their own adjusted EBITDA, with the multiple shaped by end-market mix, program concentration, certification depth, compliance status and management.
Structure matters here too. A good Florida example: in November 2024, Tinicum acquired a controlling interest in Melbourne-based Aeronix Technologies Group, a defense electronics supplier, while the selling sponsor and employee shareholders kept significant minority stakes (PrivSource). Rolling a stake into the new ownership can give sellers a second payday. It also ties part of your value to the buyer's plan. Weigh both.
Before the First Call: An A&D Seller's Prep List
Most A&D diligence problems are known to the seller well before the sale. Fixing or documenting them early keeps buyers focused on value.
Export control file. Current ITAR registration, a list of licenses and agreements, technology control plans and records of any voluntary disclosures.
Cybersecurity status. Your required CMMC level, assessment results, system security plan and plan of action for any open items.
Clearance and ownership record. Facility clearance status, key management personnel and any foreign ownership in your cap table.
Contract schedule. Every prime contract and subcontract, with set-aside status, remaining value, period of performance and assignment or consent terms.
Quality and approvals. Certificates, special-process accreditations, customer source approvals and recent audit findings with corrective actions.
Supply chain map. Critical components, where they come from and any single-source or restricted-country dependencies.
Earnings by end market. Defense, commercial aerospace and space revenue and margin, with program concentration.
A supplier that can hand a buyer this package in the first week signals that the company is run with discipline, which is exactly what defense customers expect of their suppliers.
Which Path Fits an A&D Supplier
Sailfish is one firm with two paths. For A&D suppliers worth roughly $5 million and up, a mergers and acquisitions consultant should run the sale, starting with an offering document that puts compliance on page one, a buyer list of primes, tier-one suppliers and A&D-focused investors, and careful negotiation around ITAR timing, novation and clearances.
Smaller shops doing build-to-print work for local primes often sell to regional manufacturers or individual buyers. A Florida business broker with manufacturing buyer relationships fits that kind of sale. At every size, the compliance file comes first.
How Sailfish Prepares an Aerospace and Defense Supplier
We start with a compliance map: ITAR registration and licenses, CMMC status, clearances, set-aside exposure, quality certifications and customer approvals. Then we rebuild adjusted EBITDA, split revenue by end market and program and identify which buyers can actually close given your compliance profile.
Our relationships cover roughly 3,500 acquirers, but in A&D the right list is narrow. Buyers sign an NDA and are vetted for capacity and ownership structure before seeing anything that identifies you. Your customers and program offices hear about the sale when you are ready.
Put Your Qualifications on the Price Sheet
Your certifications, approvals and programs took years to earn. They belong on the price sheet. Our sell-side advisory team can tell you, confidentially, what they are worth to today's buyers.