PK Airfinance, an aviation lending platform backed by Apollo, agreed to acquire the majority of an approximately $920 million portfolio of secured aviation loans from Standard Chartered, with Apollo affiliates agreeing to purchase the balance of the portfolio. The sale and transfer of the loans is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close by the end of 2023.

“We are pleased to announce this transaction with Standard Chartered and to add significant scale and airline reach to our aviation finance businesses,” Gary Rothschild, partner and head of aviation finance at Apollo, said. “This transaction is another example of our ability to provide large, bespoke capital solutions to a broad range of market participants across the global aviation industry.

“As a prominent player in the aviation finance sector across both lending and leasing, Apollo remains committed to supporting the success of its clients across the industry. We continue to believe that there is significant value in pairing our integrated aviation finance platform’s structuring expertise and flexible capital with deep technical knowledge and direct airline origination capabilities.”

Mizuho Americas served as lead arranger and advisor for the transaction, while Redding Ridge Asset Management served as structuring agent and Milbank served as lead counsel.

In a separate transaction, Standard Chartered also signed agreements for the sale of its global aviation finance leasing business for $700 million to AviLease, an aircraft leasing company owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.