Milbank advised Carlyle Aviation Partners and certain of its managed funds on the acquisition of Fly Leasing Limited (NYSE: FLY) in a transaction valued at approximately $2.36 billion. The acquisition is Carlyle Aviation’s largest fleet acquisition to date and will add 84 predominantly mid-life aircraft on lease to a diversified group of airlines to its managed portfolio.
Carlyle Aviation Partners is the commercial aviation investment and servicing arm of The Carlyle Group’s $56 billion Global Credit platform. It is a multi-strategy aviation investment manager that seeks to capitalize on its extensive technical knowledge, in-depth industry expertise and long-standing presence in the aviation sector. The firm has total assets under management of $6.1 billion, with a team of more than 90 employees and offices in the US, Ireland and Singapore. Carlyle Aviation Partners has 246 aircraft owned, managed or committed to purchase with 93 airline lessees in 53 countries. FLY is a global aircraft leasing company with a fleet of modern and fuel-efficient commercial jet aircraft. FLY leases its aircraft under multi-year operating lease contracts to a diverse group of airlines throughout the world. FLY is managed and serviced by BBAM LP, a worldwide leader in aircraft lease management and financing.
Milbank advised Carlyle Aviation Partners on all corporate/M&A, leveraged finance, capital markets, tax and aviation law aspects of the transaction. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2021.
The Milbank team was led by partners Drew Fine (Transportation and Space, New York), Dean Sattler (Corporate M&A/Private Equity, New York), Iliana Ongun (Corporate M&A/Private Equity, New York), Max Goodman (Tax, New York), Charles Stern (Leveraged Finance, New York), Brett Nadritch (Capital Markets, New York) and Dara Panahy (Transportation and Space, Washington, DC).
The team was supported by special counsel Teresa Chen (Capital Markets, New York) and associates Sophia Karas (Leveraged Finance, New York), Pragyan Patnaik (Corporate, New York), Steve Goff (Transportation and Space, New York), Ariella Stepanian (Transportation and Space, New York), Victoria Mansoor (Transportation and Space, New York), Christina Sonageri (Corporate, New York), Alessandra Rosales (Corporate, New York), Michael Rivkin (Tax, New York) and Sean Heiden (Global Risk & National Security, Washington, DC).
