Aircraft leasing and management firm Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) has announced the acquisition of Dublin-based Awas, one of the world’s largest aircraft leasing companies.

DAE signed the definitive agreement to buy Awas from UK-based Terra Firma Capital Partners and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, the company said in a statement on 24 April.

The combined company will see a total owned, managed and committed fleet of 394 aircraft units with a total value in excess of $14bn.

It will serve over 110 airline customers in over 55 countries from offices in Dubai, Ireland, Singapore and the United States.

The deal propels the Dubai government-controlled DAE into the top 10 aircraft leasing platforms globally, according to Khalifa al-Daboos, DAE’s managing director.

In September last year, DAE announced acquiring 80 per cent of the Jordan Aircraft Maintenance (Joramco) from The Abraaj Group.

DAE is also financing eight of the nine new Boeing 737-800 planes that Egypt Air intends to acquire as part of its expansion strategy. The nine planes are valued at $864m at current list price.