LONDON: Voyager AIR Limited, a closed-ended investment company, announced its intention to proceed with an initial public offering (IPO) of its ordinary shares on the Specialist Fund Segment of the London Stock Exchange’s main market for listed securities.
The IPO will comprise a placing and offer for subscription of shares to raise up to approximately US$200 million.
Voyager AIR will focus on the acquisition, leasing and management of primarily widebody aircraft, with asset management services to be provided by Amedeo Limited.
The net proceeds of the IPO are expected to be fully deployed into a seed portfolio of up to five widebody aircraft which will be immediately income producing on acquisition.
The seed portfolio comprises existing US$-based leases of three Boeing 777-300ERs leased to Philippine Airlines and two Airbus A330-300s leased to Sichuan Airlines.
The seed portfolio has been appraised by three independent valuation experts and is expected to be acquired at approximately a 9 per cent. discount to the average of their valuations.
The seed portfolio is expected to generate a target initial dividend yield for the Company of 8.5 percent per annum (in US$). Over the longer term, following the acquisition of additional aircraft assets, the Company will target a dividend yield of 7 percent per annum.
Voyager Aviation Holdings LLC, the vendor of the seed portfolio, controlled by Centerbridge Partners, L.P., will make a strategic investment of up to 25 percent of the shares to align interests with shareholders.
The Company will benefit from a robust, independent board of industry experts chaired by Liz Barry, formerly Head of Corporate Affairs and Executive Director of Airbus Financial Services.
Amedeo has identified a pipeline of additional aircraft assets, providing investors access to a scalable, diversified, aircraft leasing platform.