DUBAI, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) said on Monday it won a $1.4 billion deal to source and manage aircraft from one of the world's largest fund managers. DAE's Aircraft Investor Services (AIS) platform will manage the assets on behalf of the investor, DAE said in a statement, without disclosing the investor.
The multi-year mandate will also involve assisting the investor with the capital structure for the acquired aircraft and will target used narrow-body and wide-body aircraft sourced through secondary market trading and sale leaseback channels.
The deal takes DAE's managed portfolio to more than $2.7 billion in assets under management, it said, adding that it expects its portfolio to grow to its $5 billion target.
"We are off to a flying start and have already sourced 25% of the portfolio," said Firoz Tarapore, chief executive of DAE. DAE owns over 300 aircraft and will manage more than 100 aircraft, he said as it continues talks with 250 airline customers.
DAE made a first-half 2019 profit of $197.1 million compared with $195.2 million a year-ago (Reporting by Stanley Carvalho, editing by Louise Heavens)