Story ID: 1071812mx
Camp Expansion on Track with Avtrak Buy
By: Matt Thurber
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Word Count: 389
Camp Systems International expanded its share in the business aviation maintenance-tracking market by purchasing Avtrak on July 9. In early May, Camp was sold by private equity firm Warburg Pincus to another private equity company, GTCR (owner of the Landmark Aviation FBO chain), for a reported $600- to $700 million. Camp CEO Ken Gray said that he had indicated an interest in buying Avtrak to co-founders Joe and Glenn Hertzler. He added, “The Hertzler brothers made a decision for personal reasons that it was time to exit, and we were a logical acquirer.” Camp will continue to run Avtrak as a separate maintenance-tracking business.

Camp, which purchased Cessna’s Cescom maintenance-tracking system for $50 million in 2009, still has less than 50 percent market share in the turbine-powered business aircraft market after adding Avtrak, according to Gray. Camp had earlier bought maintenance tracking services from Hawker Beechcraft and Bombardier. “There are a lot of aircraft that Avtrak and Camp do not service,” he said, and thus opportunities to add to that market share. Camp offers maintenance tracking services for most types of business aircraft and specializes in maintenance tracking aided by full-service analysts, while Avtrak has been targeted more at the type of customer that doesn’t use an analyst. “We both have the market fairly well covered from a model perspective,” he said. “We think there is an opportunity to expand into the market that doesn’t use analyst service. Avtrak is a good product and a respected brand name. We would not have bought if we had no intention to continue it.”

For future growth, Camp is building its engine condition trend monitoring (ECTM) business, which it bought from Pratt & Whitney Canada in late 2010. “That business is a strong growth opportunity for Camp,” Gray said. “Particularly in the turboprop market we see a lot of growth. We are the exclusive provider for Pratt & Whitney Canada, and we think that between Avtrak, what Camp does and ECTM we can address 100 percent of the market.”

Camp did not purchase Avtrak’s software development business, which provides the software that runs Gulfstream’s CMP maintenance tracking system. Gray said that some consolidation will occur at Avtrak’s and Camp’s Wichita offices. “We made job offers to all the analysts and support people,” Gray said.