Intrepid Aviation Group is looking to raise about $350 million of equity to replace current investor Centerbridge.
FlightGlobal understands that Jefferies and Evercore are arranging an equity raise which would replace Centerbridge's $300 million investment, made in 2013.
In February, Intrepid filed forms to go public, but FlightGlobal understands that the lessor is looking to raise equity with financial companies such as insurers and infrastructure funds rather than through an initial public offering. The company is also seeking primary equity for growth.
"We are looking at different equity-raise scenarios," says Doug Winter, president and chief commercial officer, "but we simply cannot elaborate any further at this time."
The company has set up to market itself to investors by restructuring its orders and signing leases for all forward orders. In October 2016, Intrepid said it had concluded a renegotiation with Boeing of its six-unit 777-300ER order, which now comprises four 777-300ERs and two 747-8Fs.
Yesterday, Intrepid confirmed that it would lease an additional two 777-300ERs to Philippine Airlines in 2017, having delivered two aircraft of the same type to the carrier in October and December 2016.
The two new 777-300ERs that will be delivered to PAL this year were originally scheduled for delivery in 2019, which means that Intrepid would have owed about $15 million per aircraft in escalation fees, says a source familiar with the deal.
Intrepid has faced challenges in recent years, including the demise of Skymark Airlines, to which Intrepid was the largest creditor. The lessor had agreed to leases for seven A330s, some of which were never delivered.
All seven A330s originally destined for the ill-fated Japanese low-cost carrier have been released to Turkish Airlines, which will take delivery of the last of the seven A330s in April.
As of 30 September 2016, Intrepid's fleet consisted of 28 aircraft with an average age of 3.2 years and an average lease term of 8.2 years.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
