Author: anne-marie

SKY Leasing and Wafra Announce Aircraft Leasing Joint Venture

JOINT PRESS RELEASE

SKY Leasing and Wafra Announce Aircraft Leasing Joint Venture

New York – February 16, 2022 – SKY Leasing (“SKYâ€), a dedicated aviation investment manager, and Wafra Inc. (“Wafraâ€), a global alternative investment manager, today announced a joint venture partnership between SKY’s managed funds and certain funds managed by Wafra.

The strategic partnership will seek to acquire a diversified aircraft leasing portfolio, targeting approximately $3 billion of investments in new and young next-generation aircraft on lease to leading airlines globally.  SKY will act as manager and servicer of the joint venture’s assets.

The joint venture will invest in an initial portfolio of primarily new technology, narrowbody aircraft on long-term leases to leading airlines across North America, Europe, Asia and South America.  The initial portfolio has an appraised value of approximately $900 million in asset value across 20 aircraft.

“The Wafra investment will expand our financing solutions, provide greater scale, and enhance value to our capital partners and airline customers globally. SKY continues to see strong demand from our airline customer base for new technology aircraft, which provide valuable cost savings to our airline partners,†said Austin Wiley, Chief Executive Officer at SKY Leasing.†

“We are pleased to expand our relationship with SKY through this partnership.  SKY is an established aircraft lessor with decades of experience, deep industry relationships and a track record of success,†said Adel Alderbas, Chief Investment Officer of Wafra.  Edward Tsai, Managing Director at Wafra, added, “We recognize the need for creative financing solutions to meet the growing demand of airline customers for next-generation technology.  We look forward to working with SKY to build a portfolio of high-quality, in-demand assets.â€

About SKY Leasing

SKY Leasing (“SKY”) is a premier aircraft leasing asset manager with offices in Dublin, Ireland and San Francisco, California. It was founded in 2019, in partnership with M&G Investments which acquired a stake in the business.  Since January 2020, SKY Leasing has executed $2.5B of aircraft transactions across its funds under management. As of February 2022, the portfolio has a weighted average age of 1.5 years and weighted average lease term remaining of 11 years. SKY’s corporate mission is to be a leading capital provider to airlines globally for sale and leaseback transactions. For more information about SKY Leasing, visit www.skyleasing.com.

About Wafra

Wafra is a global investment firm pursuing strategies across the spectrum of alternative investments, including real assets, infrastructure, private equity, real estate, strategic partnerships, liquid markets and venture capital. Wafra, together with its affiliates, manages assets of approximately $28 billion (estimated as of September 30, 2021).  Wafra currently has more than 60 investment professionals out of its principal office in New York, and affiliated and associated offices in London, Bermuda and Kuwait.  For more information, please visit www.wafra.com.

For Media Inquiries, please contact:

SKY Leasing

Anne-Marie Scaramuzza, SKY Leasing

[email protected]

Wafra

Katrina Allen, Edelman

+1 (917) 640-2753

[email protected]

SKY Leasing Announces 2021 Results with $1.7B of New Aircraft Transactions

Year End 2021 Highlights

  • Originated $1.7B of new aircraft deliveries and future commitments across seven airlines in Latin America, Europe, and Asia
  • Executed sale-leaseback agreements for 39 aircraft including (19) A320/A321NEOs, (4) A320-200CEO, (8) B737MAX 8/9, (1) B787-9, (3) B737-800, (4) ATR72-600
  • 85% of the portfolio is comprised next generation NEO, MAX, and Dreamliner technology
  • Average portfolio age of 1.5 years and average remaining lease term of 11.0 years
  • Closed $792M ABS transaction refinancing a portfolio of 16 aircraft an average age of 1.6 years and a weighted average lease term of 11.1 years
  • Closed $600M revolving warehouse facility with a five-bank syndicate

San Francisco, CA –January 18, 2022- SKY Leasing (“SKYâ€) is pleased to announce its’ 2021 results highlighted by $1.7B of closed and committed aircraft transactions.

The acquisitions and commitments have been made across two funds managed by SKY including SKY Fund V, which was launched in 2021 as a successful follow-on to its’ 2019 vintage fund in partnership with M&G Investments (“M&Gâ€). SKY’s total assets under management reached $2.6B at the end of 2021.

The new aircraft transactions were originated with seven airlines across Latin America, Europe, and Asia, building on the strength of SKY’s global customer network. SKY maintains one of the youngest fleets in the industry, with an average age of 1.5 years and a weighted average lease term of 11 years. These acquisitions are in line with SKY’s investment strategy of building a fleet of new and next generation aircraft on long-term lease with leading global airlines. The portfolio performance has been strong with a 99% lease collection rate in 2021.

“2021 demonstrated the resilience of our airline partners in the face of an uneven demand recovery. SKY has worked closely with its’ airline partners to provide sale-leaseback solutions for next generation aircraft allowing our partners to execute on their long-term fleet plans. Airlines are increasingly focused on managing unit costs and their carbon footprint, which only accelerates the demand for new aircraft and sale-leaseback financing†said Austin Wiley, Chief Executive Officer of SKY Leasing.

About SKY Leasing

SKY Leasing (“SKY”) is a premier aircraft leasing asset manager with offices in Dublin, Ireland and San Francisco, California. It was founded in 2019, in partnership with M&G Investments which acquired a stake in the business. As a full-service leasing platform, SKY leverages its experience, global network, industry insights and managerial talent to acquire and lease new and young mid-life aircraft. SKY’s corporate mission is to be a leading capital provider to airlines globally for sale and leaseback transactions. For more information about SKY Leasing, visit www.skyleasing.com.

For more information, please contact [email protected]