Company of the Month October 2021: AerCap purchases GE Capital Aviation Services

Pictured: Aengus Kelly, CEO, AerCap

AerCap is the Business & Finance Company of the Month October 2021, in association with KPMG. The Dublin-based aircraft leasing company has over 300 customers globally, recently expanding through their purchase of GE Capital Aviation Services. 

The Dublin-based company announced they completed a deal to become the world’s biggest aircraft lessor. In March of 2021, AerCap bought their rival company from the US General Electric company for $30bn in cash shares.

AerCap’s takeover of their rival company, GE Capital Aviation Services, makes them the largest aircraft leasing company, worldwide. The takeover cost the company €25 billion, meaning the company now has a portfolio of 2,000 planes, 900 engines, and 300 helicopters,  with an increase of an additional 450 aircraft on their order book. 

“Completion of this transaction represents an important milestone for AerCap that will generate benefits for our customers, employees and investors for many years to come”, said Aengus Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of AerCap. 

“AerCap has acquired the right business, for the right price, at the right time, as air travel continues to recover from the pandemic and demand for aircraft leasing continues to accelerate,” Kelly continued. 

This has come through many years of collaboration between the two companies and their stakeholders. H. Lawrence Culp Jr., Chairman and CEO of GE said, “This strategic transaction marks significant progress in GE’s transformation to a more focused, simpler, stronger high-tech industrial company”. 

General Electric now possesses 111.5 million AerCap shares, approximating to $23 billion of cash, and $1 billion of AerCap notes.