AE Industrial Partners LP, a private equity firm specializing in aerospace, defense and government services, space, power generation, and specialty industrial markets, has acquired Cross-Fire & Security Co. Inc., a full-service fire and life safety company specializing in the design, engineering, installation, maintenance, monitoring and servicing of life safety systems. Cross-Fire’s founders, Brendan Doorly and Kevin Maguire, will maintain a major role in the company going forward.

“We see tremendous opportunity in consolidating the fragmented fire and life safety sector. We are excited to have the opportunity to create a unique platform with significant scale and national reach,” said Charlie Santos-Buch, partner at AEI. “We look forward to partnering with the founders, Brendan and Kevin, and our industry experts, Kelly, Ed and others, as we grow the business.”

“Gaining a partner of AE Industrial’s caliber is exciting for Cross-Fire, and will open up new avenues for growth,” said Doorly and Maguire. “Life safety companies must be able to deliver quality services and gain the trust of customers to secure preeminent projects. With AE Industrial’s backing, and with the guidance of our new Board members, we will have the resources to invest in the latest technologies and services and training of our staff to offer our customers the best solutions available as we grow in our target markets. Cross-Fire’s mission is to become a preeminent life safety company offering a full suite of services beyond our current fire alarm capabilities, expanding into suppression systems, sprinkler systems, fire extinguishers and more.”

“Customers in the fire and life safety marketplace value reliability and quality of service above all else, and Cross-Fire has an outstanding reputation in the space,” said Trey Bivins, principal at AEI. “We have also added greater depth to the leadership team with new Board members Kelly and Ed. Their keen understanding of both the commercial real estate and fire and life safety industries will be invaluable as Cross-Fire aggressively pursues synergistic acquisitions and strategic growth.”

Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor and PricewaterhouseCoopers served as financial advisor to AEI. Goudsouzian & Associates served as the legal advisor to Cross-Fire.