Doric Nimrod Air One, the Frankfurt-based aircraft leasing group that specialises in leasing A380s, is listing on the London Stock Exchange today. The company owns just one A380 aircraft with engines from Engine Alliance rather than the ill-fated Rolls-Royce engines. The aircraft will be operated by Emirates under a 12 year lease that will equate to a 2.25p per £1 share per quarter return for investors. Westpac bank is providing the debt.
“We have the security of a fully insured aircraft that uses Engine Alliance engines,” said Marc Gordon, a partner at Nimrod Capital, the London-based financial advisers that set up the new company with Doric Asset Finance. “A lot of people who know what we’re doing have said: ‘Which engines do they use? But most institutional investors have looked at it as a short-term problem for Rolls-Royce that’s not going to have any long-term impact on the aircraft.”
Doric has arranged similar investment vehicles in Germany for some of the eight other A380s it has financed for Emirates and Singapore Airlines.