Air Lease shares rallied Tuesday after the agreed-upon sale of the company to a newly formed Dublin-based holding company.
Los Angeles-based Air Lease announced that it would be acquired by an Irish holding company whose shares are held by Sumitomo Corporation, SMBC Aviation Capital, and investment vehicles affiliated with Apollo managed funds and Brookfield.
Per the agreement, the holding company will pay $65 in cash for each share of class A common stock. The deal values Air Lease at about $7.4 billion, or $28.2 billion including debt obligations that will be assumed or refinanced net of cash.
The $65 per share offer represents a 7% premium to AL stock's record closing price from Thursday.
Air Lease's board of directors unanimously approved the deal. The company expects the acquisition to close in the first half of 2026. It also said it will not host its third-quarter earnings call while the transaction is pending.
The deal marks the aggressive consolidation underway in the air leasing space, an industry pioneered by Air Lease Executive Chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy. The largest air industry lessor, Netherlands-based AerCap Holdings, combined with General Electric's leasing operation in 2021. In 2022, SMBA Aviation, owned by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Sumitomo Corp., bought Goshawk Aviation for $6.7 billion. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial had purchased the Royal Bank of Scotland's aviation leasing unit for $7.3 billion, in 2012.
In March, Udvar-Hazy announced plans to retire.
Air Lease Stock
AL stock jumped nearly 7% Tuesday. AL shares have rallied about 33% so far this year.
Air Lease leads the Commercial Services-Leasing Group according to the IBD Stock Checkup.
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