SKY Leasing (“SKY”), a dedicated aviation investment manager, and Wafra Inc. (“Wafra”), a global alternative investment manager, today announced a joint venture partnership between SKY’s managed funds and certain funds managed by Wafra.

The strategic partnership will seek to acquire a diversified aircraft leasing portfolio, targeting approximately $3 billion of investments in new and young next-generation aircraft on lease to leading airlines globally. SKY will act as manager and servicer of the joint venture’s assets.

The joint venture will invest in an initial portfolio of primarily new technology, narrowbody aircraft on long-term leases to leading airlines across North America, Europe, Asia and South America. The initial portfolio has an appraised value of approximately $900 million in asset value across 20 aircraft.

“The Wafra investment will expand our financing solutions, provide greater scale, and enhance value to our capital partners and airline customers globally. SKY continues to see strong demand from our airline customer base for new technology aircraft, which provide valuable cost savings to our airline partners,” said Austin Wiley, Chief Executive Officer at SKY Leasing.”

“We are pleased to expand our relationship with SKY through this partnership. SKY is an established aircraft lessor with decades of experience, deep industry relationships and a track record of success,” said Adel Alderbas, Chief Investment Officer of Wafra. Edward Tsai, Managing Director at Wafra, added, “We recognize the need for creative financing solutions to meet the growing demand of airline customers for next-generation technology. We look forward to working with SKY to build a portfolio of high-quality, in-demand assets.”