Jetrader - Winter 2018 - 28

aviation insights

A Conversation with
Goshawk Aviation
Chief Executive Officer

Ruth Kelly

The regular interview series - ISTAT Aviation Insights, sponsored by PwC - returns with a new conversation between Gerry Butler,
managing director, Merx Aviation Finance, and Ruth Kelly, chief executive officer, Goshawk Aviation, to discuss a range of issues,
including how Goshawk builds and retains a successful team.
What follows are some highlights from the conversation between these two industry insiders, but don't miss out on the full conversation on ISTAT's YouTube page at http://bit.ly/ISTATYouTube, and be on the lookout for more interviews throughout the coming year.

Gerry Butler: Congratulations on your role
in Goshawk and the company's successes
to date. I think our audience would find
it interesting to discuss the shareholders'
perspective at Goshawk. Who are they,
and what do they say about the attractiveness of this market?
Ruth Kelly: Our shareholders have been
involved in the business since we set it up
almost five years ago now, and they've seen
the business grow from zero, essentially, to
a situation now where we have more than
220 committed aircraft - that's more than
$11 billion of AUM. We will have more than
80 people in the business by the end of this
year, and our lender base is in excess of
100 banks and financial institutions. And
our shareholders have supported us as we
move to our new headquarters office here
in the center of Dublin, so that commitment speaks for itself in terms of the shareholder and the attractiveness of Goshawk
to our shareholders as an investment.
They like the risk-adjusted returns, and
they've said publicly a number of times
that aircraft leasing is now a pillar investment class for them. So it's safe to say that

they're a long-term investor in Goshawk.
They're not an investor looking for an exit.
There has been some market talk  -
and our shareholders have alluded to the
fact - that an IPO might be in the cards
for Goshawk at some point in the future.
That might sound like a contradiction in
terms of the shareholders' intentions for
the business, but our shareholders are a
financial conglomerate. They're invested in
lots of different asset classes - typically
real assets with cash flows  - and they
have a track record of seeding and starting
businesses and then listing those businesses, partially, in a situation where
they maintain a majority interest or they
maintain at least the largest shareholder
interest. So they continue to control
the business, and it sits in the context
where they might potentially consider
an IPO for the business, but they are a
long-term shareholder.
GB: IPOs are obviously an interesting exit
for shareholders and are an interesting
position in aircraft leasing - whereas
much of the market might think that

28 The official publication of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading

lessors have had mixed results by accessing the public markets through an IPO.
RK: Obviously life is very different as a
private company versus a public company,
and we're a private company. One of our
shareholders is a listed company in Hong
Kong, so we have a mirror into both lives in
terms of private and public. And as a private
company, particularly in our case where we
have a single-minded shareholder base, the
dialogue is very open between us and our
shareholder. It's our job in life to run a
business, and the Goshawk team is tasked
with running Goshawk in the best interests
of our shareholders and generating good
returns aligned to what our shareholders
want to achieve with the business.
With a single-shareholder base, it's easier to have that dialogue. Our shareholders are very interested in knowing about
the sector. They're very involved in terms
of understanding what happens in the
business - including all the challenges
that we face from time to time. We're very
aligned, open and close to our shareholders
in terms of what they want to achieve from
the business, so it's easier for us to get
http://www.bit.ly/ISTATYouTube
Jetrader - Winter 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jetrader - Winter 2018
