{"id":2156977,"date":"2025-08-11T14:51:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T13:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/?p=2156977"},"modified":"2025-08-12T08:11:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T07:11:04","slug":"italian-industrial-group-buys-lancashire-aerospace-engineering-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2156977-italian-industrial-group-buys-lancashire-aerospace-engineering-business","title":{"rendered":"Italian industrial group buys Lancashire aerospace engineering business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Blackpool-based Aerolux Ltd has been acquired by Italian conglomerate Zoppas Industries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Owned by Jane Robinson, Aerolux is an aerospace engineering business, specialising in the design and manufacture of galley equipment for the first and business class cabins of commercial aircraft, military planes, helicopters and trains.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Aerolux was formed in 1988 by Jane\u2019s father, Ken Metcalfe, an aerospace engineer whose career, prior to starting Aerolux, included spells at Rolls Royce and as Chief Engineer for Bristow Helicopters in the Middle East, stationed in Cairo. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">She took on ownership of the business 12 years ago, during which time Aerolux has expanded and modernised its product range, and grown its customer base to include most of the world\u2019s most prestigious airlines and aircraft manufacturers, including Qatar Airways, Lufthansa, Etihad Airways, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Bombardier, Gulfstream and Embraer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Aerolux, with a team of approximately 40 staff, exports its products around the world as well as providing emergency \u2018AOG\u2019 repair and maintenance services for its customers\u2019 galley equipment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The buyer, Zoppas Industries, a family-owned industrial conglomerate headquartered in Vittorio Veneto, Treviso in northern Italy, manufactures products utilising heating element technologies. With 15 factories located across Europe, Asia, South America and the USA, Zoppas employs 8,000 staff.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jeremy Cole from Cole Associates advised Aerolux and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Robert Dobson<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Craig Whittingham<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of Napthens Solicitors provided legal advice to Jane Robinson.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jane Robinson commented: &#8220;Zoppas are the ideal new owner for Aerolux. There is a great cultural match, despite the size difference. I\u2019m confident Zoppas will maximise Aerolux\u2019s potential, which is huge, and provide the team here with tremendous opportunities to develop and grow personally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cJeremy\u2019s advice, from the beginning to the end of the sale process was invaluable in keeping me informed, grounded and my best interests protected.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Customer base includes most of world\u2019s most prestigious airlines and aircraft manufacturers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":264565,"featured_media":2156982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"coauthors":[116163],"class_list":["post-2156977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deals","tag-featured-story","tag-lancashire"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast 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