General Electric has purchased the bulk of Bombardier Capital’s corporate aircraft leasing and financing business. The selling price of $339 million represents the “book value” of the loans and financial leases outstanding, Bombardier said.
Bombardier, which declined to comment on the number and types of aircraft in the portfolio, first announced its intention to withdraw from financing business aircraft last September as a means of reducing corporate debt. The company reiterated its intention in April when it revealed a far-reaching reorganization that included selling several other businesses, as well as the financing portfolio. Bombardier had been in the corporate airplane finance business since 1991.
The former Bombardier Capital portfolio will be integrated into GE’s Commercial Equipment Financing corporate aircraft business in Danbury, Conn. Although all of Bombardier Capital’s business aircraft portfolio is discontinued, some portions of the portfolio–simulator leases, for example–were never for sale.
Meanwhile, Bombardier Aerospace continues to take used aircraft as trade-ins when selling new aircraft, but Bombardier Capital is no longer a conduit for these transactions.