John Morabito, 20-Year Aviation Veteran, Joins as Managing Director to Lead Day-to-Day Aviation Investing Activities
GREENWICH, Conn., July 28, 2022 – Strategic Value Partners, LLC and its affiliates (“SVPGlobal”), a global investment firm with over $18 billion of assets under management, today announced that it has added three senior aviation-focused professionals to its investment team to capture investment and aircraft management opportunities globally.
John Morabito, who has over 20 years of aviation experience, has joined SVPGlobal as a Managing Director and will lead SVPGlobal’s day-to-day aviation investing activities. Prior to SVPGlobal, Mr. Morabito served as Senior Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at an aviation fund focused on relative value investments in the commercial aviation industry. From 2001 to 2017, Mr. Morabito worked at CIT Group, Inc., most recently serving as Managing Director and Head of the Financial Institutions Group. Mr. Morabito also served on the senior leadership team of CIT Aerospace, an aviation portfolio with over $10 billion in aircraft assets on lease to airlines globally, and played an instrumental role in selling the CIT Aerospace business to HNA Group.
Ben Pughe-Morgan and Matthew Eddy, two aviation industry veterans with more than 30 years combined experience, have also joined SVPGlobal as members of the investment team and operating partners focused on aviation. From 2001 to 2019, Mr. Pughe-Morgan worked for DVB Bank SE, where he was Head of Origination for the Deucalion Aviation Funds, DVB’s in-house leasing arm. Mr. Eddy performed various roles at CIT Bank & CIT Aerospace, including roles relating to deal pricing, credit underwriting, portfolio management, strategic initiatives and joint ventures, and held a fleet strategy role at JetBlue Airways in Long Island City, New York.
Victor Khosla, SVPGlobal’s Founder and Chief Investment Officer, said, “We are pleased to welcome John, Ben and Matt to SVPGlobal’s aviation investment team. Over the past few years, we have worked very hard to become a leader in the aviation market and have made significant strategic investments over the past 18 months. With the addition of John, Ben and Matt, SVPGlobal will be even more favorably positioned to identify new and attractive opportunities.”
John Morabito, SVPGlobal Managing Director, said, “Ben, Matt and I are very excited to join the SVPGlobal team. SVPGlobal is an experienced investor in the aviation market, recently capitalizing on a number of investment and aircraft management opportunities. We look forward to further enhancing the team, contributing to future investments and advancing SVPGlobal’s position in the aviation space.”
SVPGlobal’s expansion of its aviation investment team complements the recently announced acquisition of full ownership of Deucalion Aviation Limited (“Deucalion”), an innovative global platform with world class aviation expertise and asset management services, by funds managed by SVPGlobal. SVPGlobal had owned 50% of Deucalion since June 2021.