Japanese Firms Complete Acquisition of Stamford-Based Aircastle

STAMFORD — Aircraft-leasing firm Aircastle has completed the deal for its acquisition for $7.4 billion by affiliates of Japanese companies Marubeni Corp. and Mizuho Leasing Co.

The companies announced last November that they had agreed on terms, with the transaction valuing Aircastle at about $2.4 billion. The remaining $5 billion factors in debt obligations.

They have since secured regulatory approval from all government authorities required by the merger agreement and also gained the backing of Aircastle’s shareholders.

With the deal completed Aircastle’s common shares will stop trading on the New York Stock Exchange and be delisted.

Aircastle’s shareholders are entitled to receive $32 in cash for each of the company’s common shares.

“We are pleased to announce the completion of this transaction, which delivers significant value to our shareholders,” Peter Ueberroth, chairman of Aircastle’s Board of Directors, said in a statement.

It is not clear whether the acquisition will affect Aircastle’s long-term presence in Stamford.

Its main offices are located downtown, at 201 Tresser Blvd. It moved there in 2017, after formerly operating in the First Stamford Place complex in the city’s Waterside section.

The company also has offices in Dublin and Singapore.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Aircastle’s revenues totaled about $244 million, down 17 percent year over year. The decline reflected a nearly $73 million drop in maintenance revenues, which arose from terminating the leases of 11 aircraft with the bankrupt Avianca Brazil.

As a result of the decreased revenues, quarterly profits dropped by more than 50 percent, to about $47 million.

At the end of 2019, Aircastle’s owned a fleet of 278 aircraft, with an average age of about 10 years. In the past quarter, it acquired 16 aircraft for a total of about $284 million and sold eight for a total of about $133 million.

The fourth-quarter numbers were not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has sparked a precipitous drop in air travel in recent weeks.

[email protected]; twitter: @paulschott

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