The Middle East’s largest plane lessor Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) has raised an additional $490 million (AED1.79 billion) from three loan agreements to fund its growth plans.
The loans have maturities ranging from three to seven years, however the state-controlled company refrained from identifying the lenders or divulge further details into the use of the funds.
DEA chief executive officer Firoz Tarapore, said: “We continue to bolster our liquidity cushion to support our growth ambitions and opportunities.
“Our very strong balance sheet and solid operating model continue to attract lenders, new and existing, to DAE.”
The company in June repurchased the approximately 4% of its common shares owned by Emaar Properties in a $107m deal, making it 100% owned by Dubai’s investment arm, Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), both directly and indirectly.
A month later, it raised a $440m syndicated bank loan as part of a long-term unsecured revolving credit facility with 12 lenders, and First Abu Dhabi Bank and HSBC Bank Middle East as bookrunners and mandated lead arrangers.
It said the loan would be used to “support the future financing needs of the business” without providing further details.
The company reported small increases in both revenue and net profit for the first quarter of 2019, with total revenue reaching $360 million compared to $352.4 million in the year-earlier period, while profit rose from $96 million to $99 million.
Headquartered in Dubai, DAE’s leasing and engineering divisions serve over 125 airline customers around the world from its seven locations in Dubai, Dublin, Amman, Singapore and the US.
Its leasing division DAE Capital has an owned, managed and committed fleet of approximately 355 Airbus, ATR and Boeing aircraft with a fleet value of $13bn.
Follow us on
