Blackstone Credit, Dubai Aerospace to launch new global investment program

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise and Blackstone (BX) Credit & Insurance announced an agreement 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 US$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 group will manage the assets owned by Equator. “Blackstone’s scaled and flexible capital provides a strong foundation to grow our third-party fleet management franchise,” said Firoz Tarapore, Chief Executive Officer of DAE. He added, “Our fleet size, global customer and counterparty reach, and dedicated client support team makes DAE uniquely positioned to support Equator’s long-term success. We are excited to execute on these targets, marrying our expertise with BXCI’s investing prowess to build a meaningful portfolio of aircraft for Equator.”