Macquarie Bank participates in a consortium to acquire aircraft leasing business from GATX Corporation

Macquarie Bank today announced it was a member of a consortium that had entered into a sale and purchase agreement to acquire GATX Air, the aircraft leasing business of the NYSE-listed GATX Corporation, for an enterprise value of approximately US$1.46 billion (The consortium includes affiliated investment funds of Och-Ziff Capital Management Group and Macquarie Bank. Macquarie Bank will initially contribute US$150 million (A$200 million) to the consortium for a minority stake.

GATX Air is a full service, aircraft operating lease company, with a highly respected market position not only as an asset owner, but also as an equity partner, financial arranger and aircraft manager.

GATX Air has approximately 60 staff, and is headquartered in San Francisco with additional offices in London, Toulouse and Tokyo. The GATX Air portfolio comprises, predominantly, 87 narrow body commercial jet aircraft made up of 38 wholly owned aircraft and 49 aircraft held in various joint venture partnerships.

Aircraft that comprise the GATX Air portfolio are on lease to 37 airlines situated in 23 countries. The weighted average age of the fleet is approximately 5 years, with over 80% of the portfolio value represented by Boeing 737-800s and Airbus A320s. 

GATX has equity interests in 11 joint venture partnerships and also acts as manager of the aircraft owned by those partnerships. In addition, GATX Air acts as manager of a number of aircraft on behalf of third parties.

The sale is subject to customary closing conditions, third party consents and regulatory approvals. Completion is expected in the fourth quarter of 2006.

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