Milbank LLP advised Blackstone Credit & Insurance (“BXCI”) in connection with the agreement between BXCI and Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) Ltd (“DAE”) to partner to launch a new long-term global investment program that will be branded “Equator” and will invest in aircraft on lease to commercial airlines, with a target deployment of approximately $1.6 billion annually.
Equator will build a diversified portfolio of commercial aircraft on lease to leading airlines around the world. DAE will source the assets from third parties and DAE’s Aircraft Investor Services (“AIS”) group will manage the assets owned by Equator. BXCI expects to provide a full spectrum of capital to support the program, enabling flexible and dependable financing solutions across market cycles and investment opportunities. The BXCI investor group will include capital from funds managed by ITE Management, L.P., a strategic partner of BXCI.
The Milbank team was led by Drew Fine, chair of Milbank’s Transportation & Space practice, Dean Sattler, partner and leader of the firm’s US Corporate/M&A Group and Global Corporate/M&A partner Daniel P. Tyrrell, with Global Corporate/M&A associates Charlie Rosenthal and Ryan Aymard and Transportation & Space associate Bradley Pearson. The team also included Tax partner Andrew Walker and associate Blake Rocks.
