Air Lease Corporation acquired by Sumitomo, SMBC Aviation Capital and partners
Sumitomo Corporation, together with its aircraft leasing arm, SMBC Aviation Capital, and two major international investment firms, Apollo and Brookfield, are jointly acquiring Air Lease Corporation (ALC), one of the major global players in the aircraft leasing industry.
Air Lease Corporation shareholders will receive $65 per share, in an all-cash $7.4 billion transaction. The new entity will also assume ALC’s debt, bringing the total value of the transaction to $28.2 billion.
A consortium of banks which includes SMBC, Citi, and Goldman Sachs, is financing the deal to the tune of $12.1 billion.
In order to execute this transaction, the purchasing consortium has set up a new entity, incorporated in Ireland, called newly Sumisho Air Lease Corporation (Ireland) DAC, which is expected to obtain an investment grade rating from the major global rating agencies.
Upon completion of the acquisition, which has already been approved by its board, Air Lease Corporation will be rebranded as Sumisho Air Lease and transfer its entire order book to SMBC Aviation Capital.
In the press release announcing the acquisition, both Takao Kusaka, Group CEO, Transportation & Construction Systems Group of Sumitomo Corporation, and Peter Barrett, Chief Executive Officer of SMBC Aviation Capital, highlighted that this acquisition boosts the competitive position of SMBC Aviation Capital by leveraging the benefits of scale.
Air Lease Corporation was founded in 2010 by Steven Udvar-Házy. Hungary-born Udvar-Házy was instrumental in the development of the modern aircraft leasing industry with the foundation in the early 1970s of the International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), which was sold two decades later to American International Group (AIG).
In March 2025, ALC announced that Udvar-Házy was retiring from his executive role at the firm after a decade and a half in which he had overseen its growth to become one of the largest players in the sector, with a fleet of around 500 aircraft and $17 billion committed to future acquisitions.
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The post Air Lease Corporation acquired by Sumitomo, SMBC Aviation Capital and partners appeared first on AeroTime.
Sumitomo Corporation, together with its aircraft leasing arm, SMBC Aviation Capital, and two major international investment firms, Apollo…
The post Air Lease Corporation acquired by Sumitomo, SMBC Aviation Capital and partners appeared first on AeroTime.
