Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advising consortium of Japanese companies on US$7.4 billion acquisition

November 8, 2019

• John Healy , Howard Adler , Timothy Cornell , Greg Olsen , Natsuko Sugihara , Philip Wagman , Emily Wicker , Christine Kim , Chandralekha Ghosh , Yuki Hoshinaga , Jake Makar , Eric Schaffer
• New York , London , Tokyo , Washington D.C.

Clifford Chance advising consortium of Japanese companies on US$7.4 billion acquisition

Clifford Chance is advising a consortium of Japanese companies, Marubeni Corporation and Mizuho Leasing Company, Limited, in their recently-announced acquisition of the shares of aviation finance company Aircastle Limited (NYSE: AYR) that Marubeni does not already own. Marubeni already owns a 28.8% stake in Aircastle.

The deal values Aircastle at US$2.4 billion – or approximately US$7.4 billion, including debt – and is expected to close in the first half of 2020.

Corporate partner John Healy is leading the Firm's cross-border team based in New York, Washington, DC, Tokyo and London. John represented Marubeni in its 2013 acquisition of its stake in Aircastle.

The Clifford Chance team involved in the current transaction includes:

• John Healy, lead associate Christine Kim and associates Eric Schaffer, Jake Makar and Simi Obatusin (Corporate and Transactional, New York)
• Partner Philip Wagman and associate Lauren Clarke (Tax, New York)
• Partners Emily Wicker and William Glaister (Asset Finance, New York and London)
• Partners Timothy Cornell and Greg Olsen, counsel Joshua Fitzhugh and associates Abigail Cessna, Laurence Hull, Chandralekha Ghosh (Antitrust and CFIUS, Washington and London)
• Partners Tatsuhiko Kamiyama and Natsuko Sugihara and associate Yuki Hoshinaga (Corporate, Tokyo)
• Partner Howard Adler and associate Atul Jain (Executive Compensation, New York)