Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), one of the largest aircraft leasing firms, has struck a $1.4 billion deal by “one of the world’s largest fund managers” to source and manage aircraft.

DAE declined to mention the fund manager’s identity to Zawya.

The deal brings DAE’s assets under management to more than $2.7 billion, as the company expects its managed portfolio to grow to its $5 billion target, it said in a statement.

DAE, which has more than 125 airline customers, will acquire the assets and DAE’s Aircraft Investor Services (AIS) will manage them on behalf of the investor.

Firoz Tarapore, Chief Executive Officer of DAE, said: “DAE is thrilled to have the opportunity to grow its managed aircraft business by sourcing and managing aircraft for a world-class financial institution.  We are off to a flying start and have already sourced 25% of the portfolio.”

“We own more than 300 aircraft and will manage more than 100 aircraft. We maintain an active dialog with 250 airline customers. This scale and relevance combined with our 150-person full-service platform and our AIS offering is a very compelling value proposition for investors in the managed aircraft space” Tarapore added.

The multi-year mandate will primarily target used narrow-body and wide-body aircraft sourced through DAE’s global relationships in secondary market trading and sale-leaseback channels.

(Writing by Gerard Aoun, editing by Seban Scaria)

(Gerard.aoun@refinitiv.com)

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