Macquarie to pursue plane lessor

Macquarie Group (MQG) is looking for potential consortium partners as it eyes a second chance to buy aircraft leasing business AWAS, currently held by Terra Firma, reports The Australian Financial Review.

According to the newspaper, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank were appointed last month to consider strategic options for AWAS, including a trade sale or initial public offering.

Macquarie bid unsuccessfully for AWAS in 2006 when Morgan Stanley sold it to Terra Firma -- now more than 100 airlines lease AWAS’ aircrafts and in May 2013 it had a book value of $8.6 billion.

If Terra Firma opts for a sharemarket listing it will likely wait until the second half of this year as Dublin-based aircraft lessor Avalon is also thought to be preparing for an IPO in 2014, reports The AFR.