Montreal, Canada-based simulator manufacturer Mechtronix World has attracted a C$39 million ($35 million) capital injection by private equity company Richardson Capital. Richardson's chief executive David Brown, who has been appointed to Mechtronix World's board, describes the manufacturer as "a growth-oriented oriented company with the entrepreneurial vision and world class leadership we like to invest in".
Richardson joins Mechtronix investors, which include the company's founders and management, and the fund management organisation La Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec. Mechtronix World's chief executive and chairman Fernando Petruzziello says: "This investment provides the resources required to propel our rapid growth as well as the execution of our business plan."
The company's president Xavier Herve says his corporate aim is to make simulation more accessible and affordable, thus expanding the market and providing new and different pilot training solutions. He points out that the International Civil Aviation Organisation's ongoing reclassification of simulation equipment and what it may be used for is very different from old regulatory attitudes, opening the way for innovative training programmes.
The old system for approving equipment used to be prescriptive and inflexible, like a set of instructions, he says, but now, ICAO is effectively saying: "Here's a requirement that you have to meet, you can pick any solution that you want."
Source: Flight International
