Aircraft lessor SMBC to buy rival Goshawk in $6.7 bln deal (updated)

CTF Services

16/05/2022 16:18

(Adds details of deal, company and industry background, comment
by SMBC's chief executive)
    DUBLIN, May 16 (Reuters) - SMBC Aviation Capital, one of the
world's top five aircraft lessors, agreed to buy smaller rival
Goshawk Aviation for $6.7 billion in enterprise value, the two
companies said on Monday. 
    The deal to create a combined company with 37 billion euros 
($38.45 billion) in assets comes six months after AerCap
Holdings NV  AER.N  consolidated its position as the world's
largest aircraft lessor through its takeover of General
Electric's  GE.N  leasing business.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2L82OQ
    SMBC, which is owned by a consortium including Japan's
Sumitomo Corp  8053.T  and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group
 8316.T , said it would become the second-largest global player
by number of aircraft, including jets it currently has on order.
    "We are undertaking this transaction at a strategic point in
the cycle with a strong recovery building across the global
airline industry and we expect the transaction to be accretive
to SMBC Aviation Capital's return on capital," SMBC Chief
Executive Officer Peter Barrett said in a statement.
    SMBC said any Goshawk-owned aircraft that are located in
Russia and subject to EU sanctions are excluded from the
transaction.
    Dublin-based Goshawk is a 50-50 joint venture between Hong
Kong-based conglomerate NWS Holdings Ltd  0659.HK  and Chow Tai
Fook Enterprises Ltd.
    The $30 billion AerCap acquisition was widely predicted to
spur further consolidation in a sector that finances over half
of the world's passenger jet output, in deals worth around $150
billion of aircraft every year.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2QM0OR
 ($1 = 0.9624 euro)

 (Reporting by Padraic Halpin in Dublin and Aishwarya Nair in
Bengaluru;
Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Matthew Lewis)
 ((Aishwarya.Nair@thomsonreuters.com; +91-8067494421;))