Global helicopter leasing company Lobo Leasing will launch a Latin America office in Rio de Janeiro, which will be led by newly appointed Business Development professional, Gustavo Semeraro. With the opening of the new base, Lobo Leasing said it will become the first helicopter leasing company to establish an office in Latin America.

From the location, Lobo will serve and manage the needs of a growing group of customers throughout Latin America and the Caribbean as well as tap into the emerging opportunities in the offshore oil and gas sector among operators throughout the area.

“This is an important step in our long-term vision to deliver on the market’s desire for a presence in what is becoming one of the fastest growing and most per barrel of oil cost effective regions for offshore oil & gas exploration along with Asia,” said Lobo’s CEO Bill Wolf. “It gives me great pleasure to welcome Gustavo Semeraro and see the next phase in Lobo Leasing’s growth strategy fall into place.”

Semeraro brings over 15 years of experience in the aviation industry working for major OEMs in a diversified number of areas such as sales, marketing, management, customer service, finance and engineering. Prior to joining Lobo, Semeraro worked for Bell Helicopter as regional sales manager in Latin America. He is also a former sales director for Heli-One, regional sales and marketing manager for Safran Turbomeca and Black Belt at GE Aviation.

“I am delighted to be appointed as Lobo’s first representative in South America and I look forward to establishing Lobo Leasing’s presence throughout the region. Lobo will bring valuable specialist expertise to the market and there are strong growth opportunities for Lobo throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.”