Avolon, an international aircraft leasing business, announced its intention to partner with Wells Fargo to form a new joint venture aircraft leasing business called Avolon Capital Partners (ACP). The formation of ACP is subject to a number of regulatory approvals.

Since its inception in 2010, Avolon has raised a total of US$3.7 billion of debt capital from a wide range of financial institutions, including Wells Fargo, which has been a significant lender to Avolon since January 2011.

ACP will build an aircraft fleet primarily through sale and leaseback transactions with airlines on new aircraft. ACP will focus on young, fuel-efficient single aisle and twin-aisle aircraft with an initial target portfolio size of US$500 million. Wells Fargo will be the majority shareholder and provide banking and debt financing facilities for the business.

ACP will be headquartered in Dublin. Existing Avolon and Wells Fargo team members will serve as ACP’s management team. ACP will combine the aircraft leasing expertise of Avolon and the international financial franchise of Wells Fargo.

Avolon’s chief financial officer, Andy Cronin, will serve as a director on the board of ACP. Daire O’Criodain, an executive at Avolon, who has extensive experience in the aircraft leasing industry, will serve as ACP’s managing director.

Cronin said, “We are delighted to announce the formation of ACP. Avolon has a strong relationship with Wells Fargo and they remain a core lender to the Avolon business. The joint-venture is a natural evolution of our relationship and combines their international franchise with the expertise and capability of the Avolon team.”

He added, “Wells Fargo’s investment in this joint-venture also reflects the growing institutional investor interest in aircraft finance and leasing due to the sector’s ability to deliver consistently strong risk adjusted returns.”

Julie Caperton, head of Asset-Backed Finance and Securitization at Wells Fargo, added, “We are pleased to be able to deepen our relationship with Avolon, a longstanding Wells Fargo client with a proven management team, and to provide funding which enables them to expand their successful operations in the aircraft leasing sector.”