Operating lessor CIT Aerospace expects its TC-CIT Aviation joint venture with Japanese partner Century Tokyo Leasing to grow to 20 aircraft by March 2016.
The joint venture was established a year ago with an objective of amassing $2 billion-worth of assets by March 2017.
CIT, which was initially set to sell 14 aircraft to TC-CIT, is responsible within the joint venture for arranging future aircraft acquisitions, negotiating leases, servicing the aircraft and administering the entities.
John Morabito, CIT Aerospace's group head of financial institutions, tells Flightglobal that the joint venture targets 20 aircraft worth $1 billion of investment by the end of the Japanese fiscal year: March 2016.
The aircraft acquisition and management philosophy behind the joint venture is the same as that of CIT Aerospace, says Morabito. He cites a focus on new and in-demand aircraft on the narrowbody side as well as widebodies.
But he reveals that TC-CIT is in the process of acquiring mid-life aircraft.
"We are looking at a number of opportunities in the sale-and-leaseback market," says CIT Transportation & International Finance president Jeff Knittel.
"The JV allows us to be more competitive," he adds. "It gives us opportunities to win more transactions we could not do in the current CIT structure."
Morabito tells Flightglobal that funding is 80% raised on the debt side via the Century Tokyo Leasing channels, which includes local banks. On the equity side, the US lessor has a 30% equity interest participation in each acquisition while its Japanese partner sources 70% of the equity portion.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
