Bridgepoint Advises Midwest Air Traffic Control on Its Sale to a 100% Employee Stock Ownership Plan and Related Financing

August 21, 2026 – Overland Park, KS – Bridgepoint Investment Banking (“Bridgepoint”) acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Midwest Air Traffic Control Service, Inc. (“Midwest ATC” or the “Company”) on its sale to a newly formed Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), transitioning full ownership of the Company to its nearly 600 employees. Bridgepoint also advised Midwest ATC on the debt financing that funded the transaction.

Founded in 1978, Midwest ATC has grown from a single air traffic control tower into one of the nation's most experienced providers of air traffic control and related airport services, supporting more than 100 facilities worldwide on behalf of the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Defense, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the National Science Foundation, and other federal, state, local, and commercial clients. The Company's nearly 600 employees include a unionized workforce of professional air traffic controllers.

After evaluating a range of strategic and financial alternatives, Cordes and the Midwest ATC ownership group elected to pursue an ESOP, a structure that maximized value for the Company's owners while transferring ownership directly to the employees who operate and maintain Midwest ATC's mission-critical work. In addition to advising on the sale, Bridgepoint advised Midwest ATC on the debt financing used to fund the ESOP's purchase of the Company, which was provided by a group of institutional lenders.

"We started down a fairly conventional path to sell the Company, but Bridgepoint never let us settle for the first option on the table,” said Shane Cordes, President and CEO of Midwest ATC. “They kept presenting us with alternatives until we found a structure that actually made sense, one that maximized value for our ownership while also taking care of the employees who built this Company. The ESOP was a far more complex path than a conventional sale, but it was the right one, and I'm grateful Bridgepoint stuck with us through every twist and turn, including advising us through the financing side — to get there.”

“Shane and the Midwest ATC team have built a mission-critical business known for operational excellence, and an ESOP was the right way to reward the employees who deliver on that mission every day,” said Alex Reiss, Mobility & Diversified Industrials Managing Director at Bridgepoint. “Beyond advising on the sale itself, we advised Shane through the financing process that made the ESOP possible, giving him a single partner to help think through both sides of the transaction. It's a great outcome that provides liquidity to the Company's ownership while putting Midwest ATC's future firmly in the hands of the people who run it.”

About Bridgepoint Investment Banking

Bridgepoint Investment Banking, a division of Bridgepoint Holdings NE, LLC, is a market-leading boutique investment bank. The Bridgepoint team, through their broker dealer relationship with M&A Securities Group, Inc., an unaffiliated entity, serves clients over their corporate lifecycles by providing capital raising and M&A advisory solutions. Bridgepoint serves clients globally across a range of focus sectors including transportation, industrials, healthcare, business and IT services, technology and consumer and retail. Learn more about Bridgepoint at bridgepointib.com.

About Midwest Air Traffic Control

Midwest Air Traffic Control Service, Inc., headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, has provided air traffic control and aviation support services since 1978. Midwest ATC operates air traffic control towers, radar approach control facilities, and area control centers, and provides airfield management, ground handling, weather forecasting, flight dispatch, and aviation training services at more than 100 locations for the FAA, Department of Defense, NATO, National Science Foundation, and other government and commercial clients worldwide.