News
GECAS Moves Into Helicopter Leasing with Milestone Takeover
Monday 2nd February 2015
GE Capital Aviation Services (Gecas) completed its acquisition of helicopter leasing group Milestone Aviation on January 30. Under the deal, announced in October, GE paid .775 billion for Ireland-based Milestone and will assume or pay off the group’s existing debt. The helicopter leasing group had been owned by a consortium led by The Jordan Company.
Richard Santulli, who formed Milestone in August 2010 with other former NetJets executives, will serve as chairman of the new GE subsidiary. Milestone president Daniel Rosenthal will continue to lead the company’s existing management team, along with other founding executives John Burns, Robert Dranitzke, Matthew Harris and Walter Horsting.
The Milestone fleet now consists of 178 helicopters worth approximately billion, and the company holds orders and options for another 121 aircraft with an aggregate purchase price of .7 billion. The existing aircraft are being flown by 32 operators in 26 countries.
“The acquisition of Milestone is a key part of our growth strategy for 2015 and beyond as we add an experienced team and expand into a natural adjacency for us: helicopters,” said Gecas president and CEO Norman Liu.
Source: AIN Online