Further sales of aircraft leasing businesses are likely following deals expected to involve Irish-based Genesis and Macquarie AirFinance, industry figures say.
Genesis and Macquarie have been on the market since late last year, with both thought likely to announce deals in the near future as their industry continues to perform strongly.
Most aircraft leasing sources say there is a push to consolidation in the industry and they expect to see further transactions this year in addition to the two sales now under way.
Genesis, whose backers include the State-owned Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (Isif), has a fleet of 70 Boeing and Airbus jets leased to airlines around the world.
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The company’s last accounts, for 2024, show it had $1.1 billion (€920 million) in assets and total equity of $445 million.
Its main shareholder, Global investment fund Barings, established the business in 2014.
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Trade publication Airfinance Global reported in the autumn that the firm had hired Goldman Sachs to carry out a strategic review, including a possible sale.
Macquarie AirFinance is a division of Australian merchant bank Macquarie and has its Irish office on Burlington Road. It has 225 aircraft valued at around $6.4 billion. Aviation intelligence service, Cirium, said last month that up to six bidders were interested in the business.
Neither company commented on Thursday.
The Republic is a key centre for aircraft leasing and aviation finance. This week, the Mansion House in Dublin city centre hosted the annual Airline Economics Conference, which drew speakers from leading Irish and global leasing firms.
Aircraft leasing is enjoying a period of strong growth, aided by growing demand for air travel and a shortage of commercial jets, which has boosted the value of the industry’s assets.
A push for consolidation began in 2021 with Irish group Aercap’s €25 billion acquisition of rival GE Capital Aviation Services, to create a global giant.
Another Irish firm, SMBC Aviation Capital, followed that with its takeover of Goshawk in 2022 for €1.5 billion.
Dublin-based SMBC agreed to buy another business, Air Lease Finance, last year. That deal is awaiting approval from competition regulators in various jurisdictions.
Denis Hogan, managing director of aviation consultancy Alton, which advises lessors and creditors in airline restructuring, among others, noted that this was an attractive environment for shareholders in mid-sized companies to sell.
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Jim Morrison, chief risk officer of Dublin-based lessor Avolon, said in his 2026 Outlook, Upnext, debated at this week’s conference, that “consolidation is continuing to play out in the leasing sector”.
Irish companies, AerCap, SMBC and Avolon are the industry’s three biggest players.
They own around 15 per cent of the world’s aircraft fleet by value between them, compared to around 21 per cent in 2005, according to Mr Morrison.
