BY Fraser Tennant
In an investment mandate valued at approximately $1.4bn, globally recognised aerospace corporation Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) Ltd is to source and manage an aircraft portfolio on behalf of one of the world’s largest hedge funds.
DAE’ best-in-class Aircraft Investor Services (AIS) platform has been tasked with managing the portfolio of assets on behalf of the investment fund, the name of which has not been disclosed.
Moreover, the multi-year investment mandate will involve DAE assisting the investor with the capital structure for the acquired aircraft, primarily targeting used narrow-body and wide-body aircraft sourced through DAE’s global relationships in secondary market trading and sale-leaseback channels.
Headquartered in Dubai, DAE is one of the largest aircraft leasing companies in the world. Its leasing and engineering divisions serve over 125 airline customers around the world from its seven locations in Dubai, Dublin, Amman, Singapore and the US.
The addition of the investment mandate will bring DAE’s managed portfolio to over $2.7bn in assets under management (AUM). Coupled with other ongoing projects, DAE fully expects its managed portfolio to grow to its target of $5bn.
“DAE is thrilled to have the opportunity to grow its managed aircraft business by sourcing and managing aircraft for a world-class financial institution,” said Firoz Tarapore, chief executive of DAE. “We are off to a flying start and have already sourced 25 percent 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,” he continued. “This scale and relevance combined with our 150-person full-service platform and our industry leading AIS offering is a very compelling value proposition for investors in the managed aircraft space.”
State-controlled DAE made a first-half 2019 profit of $197.1m compared with $195.2m last year.