Ducommun to Buy Composite Structures

Ducommun Inc. of Los Angeles, continuing an acquisition spree, said Monday that it has agreed to buy Composite Structures, a privately held aerospace contractor based in Monrovia.

Terms were not disclosed. Composite Structures, which makes composite materials for aircraft, including rotor blades for Apache military helicopters and wing parts for the Boeing 737, had revenue of $60 million last year.

The proposed acquisition is the latest in a wave of consolidation that has hit the second-tier aerospace companies that supply parts and services to giant aircraft makers such as Boeing Co. and Airbus Industrie.

The consolidation has been promoted by the large prime contractors, which have been looking to fewer companies to supply aircraft components.

The acquisition of Composite Structures would mark Ducommun’s third deal in three years. Ducommun, which was founded in 1849 by a Swiss watchmaker, almost collapsed in 1989 amid a downturn in the electronics industry.

Since 1998, Ducommun has acquired SMS Technologies Co., a Chatsworth-based maker of components for commercial and military aircraft, and American Electronics Inc., a Fullerton manufacturer of precision motors used for space programs.

Ducommun, which had revenue of $166 million last year, is acquiring Composite Structures from an investor group led by Quarterdeck Investment Partners Inc., a Century City-based aerospace investment bank.

Quarterdeck acquired Composite Structures from Alcoa Inc. in 1997, shortly after the world’s largest aluminum producer considered shutting down the company. Since then, Quarterdeck has put a new management team in place, and the company has grown from about $38 million in revenue to $60 million as the work force doubled to about 400.

In trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Ducommun shares were down 1 cent to close at $13.14.