News & Events
Below are links to a list of Aircraft Leasing and Finance industry related articles.
Good to see it is not all doom and gloom!!
Europe’s debt crisis creates investment opportunities in aviation, Boeing tells Middle East investors Published September 28th, 2011 - 10:17 GMT from www.albawaba.com
The current European sovereign debt crisis, and its expected impacts on European banks, gives new impetus to aircraft investment opportunities for Middle East investors, Boeing told the region’s bankers and financers here Tuesday.
Speaking at the aircraft maker’s annual financiers and investors conference for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region, executives from Boeing Capital Corporation, the manufacturer’s product financing arm, outlined the investment potential resulting from what is expected to be a longer-term challenge for European banking institutions.
Europe’s banks have been a significant source of global aircraft financing for more than a decade.
“Middle East economies are generating significant account surpluses, which eventually will translate into the need for diversified investment portfolios. As many Middle East investors have already recognized, aircraft offer a very stable, long-term and predictable investment profile, presenting generous profit opportunities for investors willing to take advantage of them ,” said host and Boeing Capital executive John Matthews, the unit’s managing director for the region.
Boeing said to this point, Middle East banks and lessors have financed primarily air carriers based in the region. However, the company includes the region, with its substantial wealth, as a key emerging source of aircraft financing among global investors.
In addition, the mobile nature of aircraft assets makes them ideally suited for Islamic financing with its fundamental criterion that such investments be asset- based. “Recently we’ve seen significant interest in developing products in order to finance aircraft using Shariah-compliant capital markets investments and we see this trend continuing. With increased demand for affordable alternatives for aircraft financing, we anticipate that these developments will likely accelerate over the next few years,” said Matthews.
More than 80 senior executives from the region’s financial sector were on hand for what was the company’s seventh annual conference focused on commercial aircraft industry developments and related financing market conditions.
In reporting on the region’s air travel market health, the Boeing executives said the Middle East continues to show very strong growth, with the region’s international carriers growing during 2010 at a rate of nearly 18 percent, more than double the world average.
“The region’s airlines have demonstrated great competitive skill. They are very well managed and are growing successfully, so we are confident they will continue to prosper and attract financing for their deliveries,” said BCC executive Kostya Zolotusky, who presented on current market conditions and emerging industry trends.
Supporting the company’s message on the attractiveness of aircraft as investments, Boeing said world airlines overall are in their best financial conditions in many years despite continued global economic challenges and, for some Middle East countries, civil unrest. “Their balance sheets are the healthiest they have been in history. Airlines around the world have been aggressively deleveraging and holding a lot of cash. It should make them less volatile businesses that are able to weather any storms or unexpected shocks better than they have historically” Zolotusky said.
Boeing’s latest long-term market outlook released in June projected a U.S. $4 trillion market for new aircraft over the next 20 years, with a significant increase in aircraft demand over that time. Of those, the Middle East is expected to require 2,520 aircraft, worth about U.S. $450 billion.
Donal Boylan Named New CEO of Hong Kong Aviation Capital
2011-04-04 07:00:00.12 GMT from Bloomerg
Donal Boylan Named New CEO of Hong Kong Aviation Capital
Former Royal Bank of Scotland Executive to Drive Company's Ambitious Acquisition Strategy in 2011
HONG KONG -- (Marketwire) -- 04/04/11 -- HNA Group Company Limited
(HNA) of China, a leading diversified services and integrated operations company, and Bravia Capital (Bravia) of Hong Kong, a leading investor and advisor in the transportation and logistics industries, today announced the appointment of Mr. Donal Boylan as the new Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Aviation Capital (HKAC), a subsidiary of HNA and a Bravia affiliate.
After focusing on stabilizing the Allco portfolio (which HKAC acquired in January 2010), re-establishing its banking relationships as well as managing the remarketing and lease extensions of eight aircraft in 2010, HKAC is re-focused on the acquisition of new aircraft transactions. With the appointment of Mr. Boylan and additional commercial leasing executive appointments to come, the shareholders have positioned the company for accelerated acquisition, international expansion and continued industry leadership. The company expects to acquire up to 25 additional aircraft in 2011. To that end, seven new Airbus A320-200 aircraft have been finalized and three have recently been delivered to Wizz Air and Indigo Airlines.
In making the announcement, Mr. Bharat Bhise, CEO of Bravia Capital, said, "Donal is the right executive to drive Hong Kong Aviation Capital's strategy of strong growth. His vast market-oriented industry experience will be a valuable asset in reinforcing the company's position in aircraft investment worldwide."
Since July 2009, Mr. Boylan has worked closely with Hong Kong Aviation Capital and its shareholders, playing an integral role in the company's formation, business planning and administration. From
2004 through 2009, Boylan served as the Head of Aerospace & Defense at the Royal Bank of Scotland. Mr. Boylan's prior experience includes twenty years of significant industry experience in technical and commercial roles at GPA Group plc, GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS), and RBS Aviation Capital.
Mr. Boylan stated, "I am pleased to join an industry leader such as Hong Kong Aviation Capital. From the base of the Allco aviation portfolio the company has built a solid remarketing and asset management team, and I believe that we have several exciting opportunities to capitalize on that momentum to further develop the business and deliver value to our shareholders."
Mr. Donal Boylan has relocated to Hong Kong and his role as CEO is effective immediately.
ILFC outlook now stable as sells new bond. According to Moody’s
Aug 11 - Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday changed its outlook on International Lease Finance Corp, a unit of American International Group, to stable from negative as the aircraft leasing firm sold new debt.
The rating change, which means that the company is no longer likely to face a downgrade over the coming 12 to 18 months, is based on the company's improved liquidity, Moody's said in a statement.
Moody's rates ILFC B, five steps below investment grade.
ILFC has needed to rely on support from parent AIG since the firm lost access to the capital markets in 2008 and 2009 as concerns grew about the company's funding model.
Its ratings have improved in recent months, however, as it regains access to the debt markets and generates internal cash flows.
ILFC on Wednesday came to market with new debt sales totalling $4.4 billion, including $3.9 billion in secured debt and $500 million in unsecured bonds.
The company will have sold a total of $8.45 billion in new debt this year including today's transactions, which have been used to repay maturing debt and extend debt maturities, Moody's said.
Source – Reuters
New AWAS CEO - Ray Sisson
June 2010
Dublin based aircraft leasing company AWAS, controlled by Terra Firma, announced today that Ray Sisson will become its new CEO on August 26th.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, its chairman Werner Seifert stated "I would like to welcome Ray to AWAS, the Board believes he is the right person to lead the company in its next stage of development and take advantage of the many opportunities that lie ahead".
Ray Sisson began his career in New York as a corporate lawyer, Ray moved into the aviation industry in 1995 becoming Vice President and Legal Counsel for GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS) in Shannon, Ireland. In 1998, he became GECAS' Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing - Asia/Pacific, based in Singapore before moving to Dubai to become Senior Vice President & Regional Manager - Middle East, Africa& Russia/CIS in 2003. In October 2008, Ray left GECAS to take up the position of President & CEO at Titan Aviation.
Prior to becoming CEO at AWAS, he was Chief Commercial Officer of SR Technics Switzerland. In this global role, Ray led all commercial and customer facing activities. SR Technics offers a wide range of products in the aircraft component services field. These include components exchange, maintenance, repair, engineering, logistics and pooling, along with overall component management.
500 Jobs to be created in Aircraft Leasing in 3 yearsTuesday, April 06, 2010
Nearly 500 jobs are anticipated to be created over the next three years in the aircraft leasing industry in Ireland, according to the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).Currently 1,000 people are employed in the leasing industry and the authority predicts a growth of around 45 per cent. The industry is also worth EUR300 million in taxes to the state.“It’s a good industry to help to build on and we think that we should be promoting Ireland as a centre of excellence in aviation generally and this in turn would help to promote industry, such as the leasing industry,” Philip Hughes, IAA technology and training director, said.The positions are expected to be high-end and aimed at professionals that have a financial, legal, engineering or aviation background.According to Mr Hughes, the aviation industry is “coming out of a very steep downturn and starting to improve”.The IAA is a commercial state-sponsored company which provides air navigation services in Irish-controlled airspace and regulates safety standards.
CIT Group to keep Aerospace business as core.
March 18 (Bloomberg) -- CIT Group Inc., the commercial lender being restructured by Chief Executive Officer John A. Thain, will retain its aircraft finance unit during the coming round of asset sales, an executive told an industry gathering.
"CIT Aerospace is going to be a core piece of CIT for the future," C. Jeffrey Knittel, president of CIT’s transportation finance business, said during a March 16 meeting of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading in Orlando, Florida. "John Thain has decided this business is core." The unit has aircraft leases valued at about $6.51 billion.
Thain, hired Feb. 7 as CEO, has promised to sell assets and shrink CIT to a set of businesses that can be run profitably. CIT emerged from bankruptcy in December and still faces funding costs that Thain said are "very expensive," a problem shared by its biggest rivals in aircraft leasing including American International Group Inc.
"As the third-largest aircraft leasing business in the world, we remain committed to maintaining the value of this important franchise and meeting the needs of its customers," said Curt Ritter, a spokesman for New York-based CIT. He added that CIT Aerospace wasn’t listed as an asset held for sale in the annual financial report, issued the same day Knittel spoke.
Knittel didn’t respond to an e-mail requesting comment.
AIG, the New York-based insurer bailed out by the U.S., has said it may reduce its fleet of about 1,000 aircraft as it seeks to lower the debt burden for its International Lease Finance Corp. unit. Los Angeles-based ILFC said in its annual report the asset sales may total as much as $3.5 billion.
Banking on Banking
CIT plans to operate more of its businesses through banking subsidiaries so they can tap financing from lower-cost deposits backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Putting the transportation finance business into a regulated bank would require CIT to back it with more capital, prompting analysts to speculate that CIT will sell the unit.
Investors stopped buying CIT’s commercial paper as the firm slid toward bankruptcy and credit markets froze. Better credit market conditions may have convinced Thain he can hold on to the business outside of a bank, said Chris Brendler, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in Baltimore.
"The question remains, though, how are they going to fund it?" Brendler said. "They haven’t answered that yet." Brendler has a "buy" recommendation on CIT’s stock, which dropped 33 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $37.54 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
Best Performer
CIT’s aerospace finance business is the largest and best- performing part of the transportation finance and leasing segment run by Knittel, according to the company’s annual report. The segment has $6.51 billion of leases on 296 airplanes, helicopters and aerospace equipment and $3.58 billion of leases on rail cars and equipment.
The entire fleet of commercial aircraft has been leased, CIT said in its filing. Some customers have been returning rail equipment, of which 10 percent is not being used, double the previous year’s level, CIT reported.
Net operating-lease revenue for the transportation unit dropped 8 percent in 2009 to $758 million "as the relatively strong performance of the commercial aerospace portfolio was offset by decreased rentals in rail," according to the company.
Matthew Shinnick joins HKAC as CEO
March 2010
Hong Kong Aviation Company ("HKAC"), a leading investor in global aviation finance, announced today that Mathis Shinnick has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Shinnick will be based in Hong Kong and comes to HKAC from HSH-Nordbank AG where he held the position of Global Head of Transportation since 2004. Mr. Shinnick is expected to begin his appointment May 1, 2010.
"We view Mr. Shinnick's appointment as a very important step in HKAC's development and planned international expansion," said Adam Tan, Executive Director, HNA Group and Chairman, Hong Kong Aviation Company. "Mr. Shinnick's 20 years of experience in the transportation sector will help us achieve our long-term objective of deploying significant capital in transportation-related assets. In addition, his management experience will help us rapidly consolidate the existing lease management business within the recently acquired Allco aviation portfolio and help position HKAC as a leader in the global aircraft leasing marketplace."
"Mathis Shinnick is a highly respected and globally acknowledged leader in the transportation finance sector," said Bharat Bhise, CEO of Bravia Capital Partners and investor in HKAC. "His hiring is a further sign of our commitment to recruit the best available talent in the industry. His experience at Chase Securities and HSH-Nordbank will be invaluable in directing our long term strategic vision for HKAC. Mr. Shinnick is intimately familiar, not only with the types of assets we are financing, but also the complex structures associated with such financings."
Mr. Shinnick most recently held the position of Global Head of Transportation at HSH-Nordbank AG. Prior to HSH-Nordbank AG, Mr. Shinnick was Head of Transportation at Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance where he significantly expanded the firm's penetration into the transportation industry as a Lead M&A Advisor. He also previously held the position of Co-Head of Global Aviation at Chase Securities where he led the league tables as agent and arranger for aerospace and defense debt financing. Mr. Shinnick has an MBA in international management from the American Graduate School of International Management and a BBA in accounting from the Robert O. Anderson School of Business, University of New Mexico.
HKAC plans to expand its employee presence globally over the next 12 months. The firm recently secured a portfolio of nearly US$3 billion in assets by completing its acquisition of Allco Aviation in early January 2010. As part of the acquisition, HKAC retained the entire existing management team of the Allco Aviation portfolio.
About Hong Kong Aviation Company
Hong Kong Aviation Company ("HKAC") is a diversified player in the aviation industry. HKAC is headquartered out of Hong Kong, with offices in Sydney and London. The firm invests in commercial aircraft leases and financial instruments, and also provides aircraft management and advisory services. HKAC's mission is to prudently invest in the global transportation and infrastructure sectors for consistent and long-term returns, creating value for its investors and clients alike. HKAC has a highly capable team with skills and experience in both the financial industry and the management of aircraft assets.
Irish Time Feb 2010 – Aircraft Leasing Weathers the storm
While the global airline industry may be in freefall, with the prolonged recession and decline in consumer spending hurting carriers around the world, one related sector which continues to weather the storm is aviation finance. This means that Ireland, as the leading global centre, is going strong, boosted by new start-ups from the likes of the Slattery brothers. Ireland has been a hotbed for aviation finance since the days of GPA, and while that company may have met its demise in the early 1990s, it spawned the emergence of a new industry, clustering in Shannon and Dublin.
Today, some 30 lessors are active in the market, including leading players in the industry such as RBS Aviation Capital, AerCap, and AWAS, managing over 3,000 aircraft worth about €83 billion, and the Irish industry has seen innovations such as aircraft lease securitisations and the establishment of an aviation fund by Amentum Capital.
Globally, the sector has boomed over the past two decades, buoyed by airlines increasingly choosing the leasing option. Back in 1990, just 5 per cent of global commercial aircraft were leased, but today the figure is said to be closer to 35 per cent.
While you might expect the industry to suffer severely from the aviation downturn, typically leasing companies do well in downturns because in addition to getting better prices on aircraft from manufacturers, they also have a larger customer base, as airlines opt to lease, rather than buy, aircraft.
However, this particular downturn comes with an added crunch on credit, and as Ken Rush, a partner with Matheson Ormsby Prentice, points out, it had been predicted that the credit crunch would result in a funding gap within the aviation finance sector of between $7 billion and $15 billion (€5 billion-€11 billion) during 2009.
But this never materialised, he adds, thanks largely to the willingness of the export credit agencies on either side of the Atlantic to step up and provide finance, which meant that the impact of the credit crunch was not felt as acutely as in other sectors.
In Europe, the European Export Credit Agencies (ECAs), such as the French Coface and German Hermes, provided support; in the US, the Export Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), a US government-guaranteed capital markets structure whereby EXIM guarantees a bond offering, was used to fund the acquisition of new aircraft.
“This structure , first used towards the end of 2009, is of significance to the aviation finance sector as it facilitates access to global capital markets, thereby providing an alternative source of finance to qualifying entities within the sector,” explains Rush.
John Slattery, chief executive of new start-up Greenstone Aviation, says that the export agencies “stepped up to the plate significantly”; and while 2009 may have been a very tight year, he adds that these export credit agencies gave huge support. Another key factor in keeping the business airborne was investment from China.
Meanwhile, the difficult credit environment is not putting off new entrants. In late 2008, Atlas Air Worldwide set up a Dublin-based aircraft-leasing unit, Titan Aviation Leasing; last June, Slattery, who was integral to getting RBS’s aviation unit to take off, set out on his own. With $100 million in private equity investment he set up Greenstone Aviation, which will focus on sale and leaseback.
More recently, his brother Domhnal also announced a return to leasing. Having tried to get Jetbird, his air taxi service, off the ground, Slattery is going back to the sector where he first made his name with IAMG, which was later sold to Royal Bank of Scotland to become RBS Aviation Capital. His new venture, Avolon, which hopes to raise $800 million, has been set up with a $250 million investment from Oak Hill Capital Partners.
Back at Greenstone, seven months on from its launch, Slattery says that progress is “largely on track”, and the firm anticipates making another announcement regarding additional investment soon. This capital injection, which Slattery says is a “multiple of the initial investment”, will bring it closer to its €500 million equity target.
Greenstone’s model involves “acquiring new aircraft as they deliver to airlines and contemporaneously leasing them back to airlines”, says Slattery, adding that the firm will probably close on its first aircraft transaction this April. By the end of 2012, Slattery hopes to have a portfolio valued at some $3 billion, with the average age of aircraft under a year and a half.
Slattery is full of praise for Dublin as an aviation finance centre, saying its business advantages are not replicated in any other city around the world. “We didn’t pick Ireland because I’m Irish, but because it’s the easiest place in the world to set up a leasing business,” he says, adding that while he had looked at quite a number of jurisdictions around the world, Ireland was chosen because of unique selling points such as the range of withholding tax treaties. The low corporation tax rate is also critical. “The current Government’s view of almost characterising corporate tax as a brand of Ireland is very important for investors when looking at investing in an Irish-based company,” he says.
On the flipside, he is concerned that the upward pressure on personal taxes will make it more challenging to keep experienced people in Ireland, and to attract them here.
Looking into 2010, Rush is optimistic about prospects for the aviation sector, and expects export credit agencies to continue to finance at the same level as they did in 2009. Nevertheless, he envisages that banks will remain selective about what entities and asset class they will finance. “Robust customer credit and a highly tradable asset class will remain key lending criteria for financiers in 2010,” he says, although he adds that the more competitive pricing on export credit transactions may cause a fall in commercial debt pricing.
Improving credit conditions should mean more activity on the MA front. While Shannon-based Genesis Lease and AerCap are set to merge in a €1 billion deal, the uncertain economic environment is likely to be holding back other possible deals.
Last year, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) announced that RBS Aviation Capital, its Dublin-based aviation leasing subsidiary and one of the world’s largest, was no longer a core asset and it would be looking to dispose of it. Since then, its saleability may have fallen following purges from the Slattery brothers. Last summer, three executives left John Slattery’s old firm to join Greenstone, while more recently seven executives left to join his brother’s Avolon.
Similarly, ILFC, one of the founding companies of the sector along with Tony Ryan’s GPA, is also for sale, as it ran into serious difficulties following the problems its parent AIG ran into during the credit crisis. It now looks likely to be sold in portions.
One potential obstacle on the road to full recovery will be the collapse of a major player. “During this downcycle the aviation industry has not seen a true bankruptcy of a significant carrier, and should this occur in 2010 it may have an impact on the willingness of commercial debt providers to lend,” says Rush.
Link to original article on Irish Times web site
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0215/1224264467495
Allco aircraft lease sale finally takes off!!
THE receivers of Allco Finance have finally completed the sale of its key aircraft leasing business — eight months after the deal was signed.
The sale of the business to China's HNA Group, a state-owned transport and logistics company, was announced in May but has been held up waiting for the consent of 29 non-recourse lenders, which between them have $3 billion tied up in the Allco fleet.
Allco's receiver, Peter Gothard of Ferrier Hodgson, said handing over the keys to the aircraft-leasing business was a big step towards the completion of the failed financier's receivership.
"It has taken a little longer than expected," he said. "[But] we knew it was going to be difficult."
He declined to disclose the sale price, but in 2008 Allco put a net value of $86 million on the business, whose customers include Qantas, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Ryanair and Asiana.
Mr Gothard said completion of the sale was made "a little more thorny" by legal action late last year against former Allco chief David Veal and Geoffrey Kinghorn, son of Allco's founder, John Kinghorn. The action was aimed at restraining the pair from appointing as manager of special-purpose vehicles any entity in which the Kinghorns or Mr Veal had a financial interest.
The legal action is due to resume next month in the Federal and Supreme courts.
HNA's adviser, Bravia Capital, said it had been an "extremely difficult transaction" to formalise.
The Chinese company's off-shoots include Hainan Airlines, the largest private airline in China, part-owned by US billionaire George Soros. It also has stakes in Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express.
The sale leaves Allco's debtor-finance business as the last tradeable business for the receiver to offload.
Its shipping business, Allocean, which has a fleet of 38 vessels — tankers and container ships — was sold to a Greek shipping company last year for an undisclosed price. The troubled state of the shipping industry made the sale difficult.
Allco's rail-leasing assets in North America and office equipment-leasing business were sold early last year.
Source ‘The Age’ Syndey.
Genesis Lease – Merger / Acquisition with Aercap
Sept 09 - In response to unusual trading activity in its stock and marketplace rumours, Genesis Lease Limited (NYSE:GLS) said today that it is in discussions with another party concerning a possible M&A transaction.
Genesis Lease yesterday (Monday September 14) issued a statement saying that it is in discussions with another company about a possible merger and acquisition deal.
The company issued the statement after shares in Genesis rose 12% in trading hours, from $6.33 a share to close at $7.80. Both Reuters and Bloomberg attributed the rise to Airfinance Journal’s exclusive story breaking the news about rival lessor’s AerCap’s plan to buy Genesis Lease using a share swap.
“In response to unusual trading activity in its stock and marketplace rumours, Genesis Lease Limited (NYSE:GLS) said today that it is in discussions with another party concerning a possible M&A transaction,” said the statement. “Genesis cautioned that no assurances can be given that a definitive agreement relating to such a transaction will be reached or as to what the terms of a transaction would be. Genesis also said that it does not intend to make further comment unless or until there is a transaction to announce.”
After the statement was issued shares rose to $8.84 in aftermarket trading.
AerCap has not issued a statement and a spokeswoman declined to comment on the rumours. Shares in AerCap traded down slightly by 0.2% closing at $9.10 a share.
Some 714,000 Genesis shares were traded yesterday over three times more than the average daily number of 176,000. Genesis shares last above $8 a share on October 2 2008.
Genesis Leases statement can be found at http://www.genesislease.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=409135
New Aircraft Leasing company launched – GreenStone Aviation
John Slattery, the former head of Americas at RBS Aviation Capital, has formed a new commercial aircraft leasing company with over $100 million in launch equity.J
ohn Slattery has launched GreenStone Aviation a new aircraft leasing company backed by private equity investors.
Slattery was a co-founder of RBS Aviation Capital and the former head of its Americas business based in New York. GreenStone's lead investor is Jefferies Capital Partners which has committed $100 million in equity to launch the company. Slattery aims to raise a total of $500 million by the end of 2010.
“It is great to have these proven experienced professionals enter the leasing market. Boeing looks forward to working with Greenstone,” says John Wojick, vice president sales leasing, asset management and Latin America, at Boeing.
Slattery has ambitious plans for the new company. “GreenStone is a growth company that comes to the market at a time when airlines and manufacturers are keenly looking to engage with fresh capital that has no legacy fleet complications. We want to be the first lessor that airlines think of for sale/leasebacks of their new delivery aircraft,” says Slattery. “As a brand new lessor we are not distracted with re-financings, remarketing or placing aircraft orders. We are coming to the market with one product - sale and leasebacks - with no other strings attached.
”GreenStone is planning to focus on the newest and most popular narrowbody aircraft but will, in time, consider the newest widebodies including Boeing's 787 and Airbus’s A350 programmes. “Our investment thesis is to be totally disciplined about choosing the most liquid aircraft delivering to top tier airlines that have the management teams and franchises to thrive in tough markets,” says Slattery.
He believes that selecting the most popular narrowbodies reduces much of the risk that lessors traditionally face. “We are not reinventing the wheel,” he says. “I have already been part of a successful leadership team that developed and executed this model before.” The company will trade as GreenStone Aviation Ltd in Ireland and GreenStone Aviation Corp in the US. The lessor has hired two senior executives in New York and is will grow the Dublin team where Slattery is based through the balance of 2009. GreenStone is aiming to open offices in Beijing, Singapore and Dubai as the company grows giving the firm a truly global footprint.
Jefferies Capital Partners is the private equity affiliate of investment bank Jefferies & Company which is particularly well known as a shipping and transportation bank. Jefferies Capital Partners and its principals have also invested in a number of transportation leasing companies.
Unlike some other private equity firms, it often chooses to be a long-term investor rather than focussing on immediate exit strategies.
“As GreenStone is not a short-term play, my team and I are building a company for the next 20 or more years,” says Slattery.
He believes it one of the best capitalised independent aircraft leasing start-ups to be focused on the ownership of newly-delivered commercial aircraft “This is the perfect time to launch,” he says. “For the current cycle, we see a three-year window for our targeted aircraft investments.” Slattery says that GreenStone will focus on keeping the average age of the portfolio low. “By the end of 2012 we will have one of the youngest fleets amongst any lessor, if not the youngest fleet in the world – but more importantly our fleet will be comprise of the most popular fuel efficient aircraft on lease to the strongest carriers
”GreenStone is keen to borrow from banks - including lenders its team has prior relationships with and some new relationships that Jefferies can bring into the business. “We are already talking to manufacturers and key aircraft finance and investment banks,” says Slattery. “We will also be meeting banks in China and the Middle East and encouraging them to lend to their local carriers. GreenStone is about financing the best aircraft on lease to top credits so despite the credit crunch we are optimistic that banks will see us as a flight to quality and an opportunity to support the growth of a focused disciplined business."
The launch of any lessor is good news for airlines. “John brings a wealth of hands-on aviation experience and expertise to the table and has the added attribute of old-school honour,” says Dave Barger, president & CEO, JetBlue Airways. “One of the first deals we did with John was finalized with a handshake. Little more was necessary, and the deal closed as promised. This dedication, combined with extensive industry knowledge and a smart business plan, will position GreenStone Aviation for long-term success.”
Commercial aircraft growth to come from Asia - Feb 26 -2009
Global Aircraft Leasing Market to Reach $279 Billion by 2015, According to New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.