Udvar-Hazy’s aircraft leasing start-up plans $805-million IPO

Air Lease Corp., the Century City aircraft leasing company started last year by Los Angeles billionaire Steven Udvar-Hazy, said it planned to raise as much as $805 million in its initial public offering.

The company, which buys passenger planes and rents them to airlines, said in January that it was planning an IPO. At that point ALC said it wanted to raise $100 million.

The company said it would use the money to fund its acquisition of commercial aircraft and for general corporate purposes.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, the company revealed that it was selling 25 million shares of Class A common stock at $25 to $28 a share.

ALC plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “AL.” The company did not disclose when the stock sale will take place.

Udvar-Hazy, 65, founded ALC in February 2010, less than two weeks after he left International Lease Finance Corp., or ILFC. He had co-founded that Century City company, which grew to be the world’s largest airliner-renting enterprise.

Udvar-Hazy set up his new company down the street, recruited other ILFC top executives and within weeks struck a deal with Air Berlin to lease an Airbus A320.

As of March 15, ALC had acquired 46 aircraft and anticipates that its fleet will grow to about 100 planes by the end of the year, according to the SEC filing.

The start-up has announced deals to buy 153 new aircraft and 10 additional used aircraft through 2017. It is leasing planes to 25 airlines in 15 countries.

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