Airborne Capital and L1 Treasury create $250m portfolio for aircraft

Ireland-based aircraft leasing and asset management company Airborne Capital has partnered with LetterOne Treasury Services (L1 Treasury) to form a $250m joint venture to buy commercial aircraft.

The new venture, named AltitudeOne Aviation, will invest in a portfolio of in-production narrow-body and wide-body commercial aircraft to be leased to airlines across the globe.

Airborne Capital will act as the asset manager and lease services for AltitudeOne Aviation, which will be supplemented with bank financing.

AltitudeOne Aviation is expected to be befitted from the future growth of the commercial aviation industry, which is forecasted to double the size of its fleet over the next two decades due to growing passenger demand.

Airborne Capital CEO Ramki Sundaram said: “The team at Airborne Capital has rich experience in setting up and managing innovative investment and fund platforms for investors.

“This latest initiative fits perfectly within our strategy of providing a bridge between sources of capital and businesses requiring aviation financing.”

Established in November last year, Airborne Capital has backing from Ireland’s financial services company FEXCO Group and Natixis Investment Managers.

Airborne Capital aims to expand its business to have aircraft asset under management of more than $5bn within the first five years of operation.

L1 Treasury Direct Investments head Nitin Bhandari said: “With the financial support and expertise that we can provide combined with the industry expertise of the Airborne Capital team, we believe that this business can grow rapidly to play a significant role in the market segments it is targeting.”

Based in Luxembourg, L1 Treasury is primarily involved in the management of liquidity and financial investments of LetterOne Group.