Dubai: Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) announced on Monday it has been mandated by a hedge fund to source and manage aircraft valued at a total of $1.4 billion.
Under the deal, DAE will acquire the aircraft, which will be managed by the company’s Aircraft Investor Services platform on behalf of the hedge fund. DAE said the agreement was a multi-year mandate that also involves assisting the investor with the capital structure for the acquired aircraft.
It did not name the hedge fund, but said it was one of the world’s largest. The aircraft it will acquire will primarily be used narrow-body and wide-body aircraft.
The latest deal brings DAE’s managed portfolio to over $2.7 billion in assets under management, with the figure expected to grow to a target of $5 billion.
Firoz Tarapore, chief executive officer of DAE, said the company has already sourced 25 per cent of the portfolio.
“We own more than 300 aircraft and will manage more than 100 aircraft. We maintain an active dialogue with 250 airline customers. This scale and relevance, combined with our 150-person full-service platform and our industry leading [Aircraft Investor Services] offering is a very compelling value proposition for investors in the managed aircraft space,” he said.
