21 August 2017
Terra Firma, alongside co-investors and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), announces the completion of the sale of AWAS to Dubai Aerospace Enterprise.
Under Terra Firma’s ownership, AWAS was transformed into one of the world’s leading aircraft leasing companies with over 87 airline customers in more than 45 countries and with owned aircraft assets of c. US7.5bn as at November 2016. Terra Firma optimised the company’s portfolio with a new focus on narrow bodied aircraft, significantly decreasing the average age of the fleet while increasing the average lease duration.
Led by a strong management team and supported by significant capital deployment to grow the business and successive refinancings to lower the cost of capital, AWAS outperformed the broader aircraft leasing sector under Terra Firma’s ownership.
Guy Hands, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Terra Firma, said:
“The completion of this deal builds on our strong recent performance in returning capital to investors, following on from the successful exit from Infinis earlier this year. We have successfully executed this exit in under a year – a great achievement for an asset of this size – at a price that will drive value for our investors.
“Faced by challenging market conditions over the financial crisis, we created value by staying close to the Terra Firma playbook: transforming the company’s strategy, strengthening its management team and building through M&A, as well as driving growth through significant capital expenditure and lowering the cost of capital through two refinancings.”
Goldman Sachs acted as financial advisors to AWAS and Milbank acted as legal advisor.