# Albany International Albany International is an Asset Manager based in Rochester, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Asset Manager - **Headquarters:** Rochester, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** Rochester, NH, United States - **Founded:** 1895 - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** albint.com ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About Albany International was founded in 1895 in Albany, New York, originally manufacturing papermaker's felts. The wealth origin is purely corporate, built over 130 years by dominating the industrial textiles market for paper production. The firm moved its headquarters to Rochester, New Hampshire, and under Gunnar Kleveland's leadership since 2020, it has deepened a strategic pivot toward high-margin aerospace and defense components, leveraging its core competency in advanced woven and engineered composite materials. The company's investment strategy is organized around its two operating segments. The Machine Clothing segment generates steady cash flow by supplying custom-designed process belts to pulp, paper, and tissue producers globally, with direct operations in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The Engineered Composites segment represents the growth vector, deploying capital into research and production for next-generation aircraft engine components — notable programs include the 3D-woven composite fan blades and cases for the GE9X engine and structural parts for the Sikorsky CH-53K helicopter. Albany allocates capital through internal R&D, manufacturing facility expansions, and targeted acquisitions that reinforce its materials science moat, such as the 2023 purchase of a composites component manufacturer in Salt Lake City, Utah to support the LEAP engine program. Scale is disclosed through public financials: the company reported $1.23 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2024 (per the firm's SEC filings, 2025). The headcount stands at approximately 5,600 employees across more than 20 facilities in 11 countries. Adjacent vehicles are limited to the standard corporate structure; no separate investment fund or family-office entity is associated with the public company. In the last 24 months, Albany International completed the acquisition of Heimbach Group, a leading European paper machine clothing manufacturer, for €153 million, consolidating its position and expanding its installed base in the global pulp and paper market (per the firm, July 2023). The firm's structural differentiator lies in its engineered-barrier-to-entry business model. Unlike diversified industrials that compete on cost, Albany's Engineered Composites division is sole-source or primary-source on long-cycle aerospace defense platforms, secured by proprietary manufacturing methods for 3D-woven preforms that are not easily replicated; this creates a competitive moat backed by highly technical, classified, or trade-secret production protocols that make customer switching costs prohibitively high. ## Sectors - Industrial Tech - Aerospace & Defense ## People - Gunnar Kleveland — President and Chief Executive Officer - Robert D. Starr — Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer ## Questions ### Who runs investment and capital allocation decisions at Albany International? President and CEO Gunnar Kleveland, with CFO Robert D. Starr, leads capital allocation from the Rochester, New Hampshire headquarters. The Board of Directors approves major transactions. The firm does not have a separate chief investment officer or investment committee outside the standard corporate governance structure; M&A and organic capital deployment are evaluated by the senior executive team against the two-segment industrial strategy. ### How does Albany International source new investment opportunities? The company sources acquisitions through a combination of industry relationships, investment bank-led processes, and direct outreach to complementary manufacturers in the engineered composites and machine clothing sectors. The Heimbach Group acquisition in 2023 was identified through long-standing competitive dynamics in the paper machine clothing market. The firm does not operate as a venture capital or minority investment platform; it acquires controlling interests in strategic bolt-on targets. ### Which sectors does Albany International explicitly avoid? The firm avoids financial services, consumer goods, software, and healthcare. It focuses exclusively on industrial manufacturing and advanced materials science. Within aerospace, the focus is on structural composite components rather than avionics or electronic systems. ### Where does Albany International's investment capital come from? Capital comes from the company's retained earnings, operating cash flow, and debt issuance as a public corporation. The Machine Clothing segment has historically served as the cash engine, generating high free cash flow from a mature installed base. The company does not raise external funds from limited partners or institutional investors, and there is no underlying family wealth or endowment backing firm-level investment activity. ### What is Albany International's posture on co-investments alongside external partners? Albany International does not participate in co-investment structures alongside external GPs in the traditional private equity sense. Its joint ventures and partnerships, such as the long-standing relationship with Safran on LEAP engine components, are industrial collaborations based on revenue-sharing and manufacturing profit participation rather than fund-style co-investment vehicles. ## Related profiles - [Kimbell Royalty Partners](https://altss.com/profile/kimbell-royalty-partners-lp) - [Oculis Holding AG](https://altss.com/profile/oculis-holding-ag) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/albany-international-corp-de Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology