Dubai Aerospace Enterprise has agreed to sell a portfolio of 18 mid-life aircraft to institutional investors, the company said in a statement on 17 December.

MEED understands the 18 aircraft are on lease to 15 airlines in 13 countries and have a weighted average age of approximately nine years, with a weighted average remaining lease term of four and a half years.

DAE will act as portfolio servicer.

“This transaction takes us one step closer to our stated goal of having $5bn of managed aircraft assets,” Firoz Tarapore, chief executive of DAE, said. “Investors are increasingly recognising the value of DAE’s Aircraft Investor Services (AIS) platform and entrusting the management of their aircraft assets to us.”

In October, DAE successfully closed its $800m revolving loan facility, launched five months earlier.

The credit facility, initially launched for an amount of $480m, attracted the interest of a broad group of banks and could boast substantial oversubscriptions.

Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait (ABK) is the coordinating mandated lead arranger and bookrunner, and together with UAE-based First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) is the mandated lead arranger and bookrunner, while Noor Bank is the mandated lead arranger. FAB is also the global agent, facility agent and investment agent, and Noor Bank is the Islamic structuring agent.

Eight additional banks have entered the facility using the accordion feature to bring the total of the facility size to $800m.

DAE acquired Dublin-based Awas, one of the world’s largest aircraft leasing companies in 2017.