Transaction

Cabot Aviation Acquisition

Air Partner, the leading global aviation charter specialist, has acquired Cabot Aviation, a specialist broker in aircraft remarketing, for up to £1.2m.

Cabot Aviation was founded in 1998 by Malcolm Holt and Tony Whitty, who have grown the company into one of the leading aircraft remarketing brokers in the world. Cabot is headquartered in Tunbridge Wells, but also has a sales presence in North America, Latin America, Russia & CIS, and Asia Pacific.

Holt and Whitty will lead Air Partner’s new aircraft remarketing division from the Group’s London Gatwick headquarters. The division will continue to trade as Cabot Aviation and will hold responsibility for all aircraft remarketing globally within the Air Partner group.

Commenting on the acquisition, Mark Briffa, CEO of Air Partner, said: “Cabot Aviation will leverage the Air Partner global office infrastructure and supplier network to deliver even greater service breadth and depth to clients. We look forward to seeing the benefits this acquisition will bring to clients of both Air Partner and Cabot Aviation.”

Air Partner’s existing aircraft remarketing operations are predominantly in the short-term wet lease market and so the acquisition of Cabot Aviation adds significant aircraft sales and dry lease expertise – channels where Air Partner experiences demand from its existing client base.

Tony Whitty, CEO of Cabot Aviation, said: “Joining the Air Partner group will enable us to enhance the services we offer our existing clients, while providing Air Partner’s client base with deeper remarketing capabilities and additional aviation services. We very much look forward to continuing to partner with and support our existing and new clients.”

Cabot Aviation clients include China Airlines, AJW Aviation, Cyprus Airways, British Midland, Cargolux, Daimler-Chrysler, KLM, DVB Bank, Halifax Bank of Scotland and Rolls-Royce Aircraft Management.

Malcolm Holt, Chairman of Cabot Aviation, said: “Tony and I founded Cabot Aviation in 1998 and have enjoyed growing it into the successful international business it is today. We are extremely excited to be joining Air Partner, a group which shares our commitment to aviation expertise, international excellence and industry leading client service. We are now looking forward to building on our successes to date within the enlarged Air Partner group.”

Cabot Aviation was advised on the acquisition by Peter Counsell, director of Meta Corporate Finance, who commented “Having known Malcolm and Tony for many years, I am delighted for them. The acquisition by Air Partner is a great next step for Cabot Aviation. It is always a pleasure to work with clients that are leaders in their field. Even more so when they are local to us as well.”

Client:

Cabot Aviation

Service:

Sell Side

Region:

Sector:

Aerospace and Defence

META Project Lead

Peter Counsell

NEED MORE INFORMATION?

Get in touch with our team today

Interested in our services or have any questions?

Latest Transactions

Check out our latest Transactions

Testimonials

What our clients have said

“We are happy that KnowledgePool will drive forward our objectives for Maxim far faster than we may have been able to alone. Meta’s strategic and corporate finance advice enabled us to present our case to KnowledgePool in the best possible light and for us, as shareholders, to realise the value we all knew was embedded in our product base.”

Chris Brand

Maxim Training

“I worked with Mark at Meta over an extended period. Their hands-on approach helped me formulate a strategy to maximise the value of my business and to identify the right partner to ensure its success.”

Michael Brett

Revive

"The advice that Peter at Meta gave us throughout was vital to the ultimate completion. We are delighted to complete the buy-out and look forward to life as an independent business."

Derek Kenny

Erith Waste

“We are very grateful to Peter Counsell for his experienced support during the negotiations. He understood the nature of ITUK and its philosophy and skilfully guided us through the maze of issues that are inherent in such a complex transaction. Meta had a very difficult role as they were heavily involved in negotiating in two cultures."

Nikki King

Isuzu

“I am very happy to see Murston Plant now under GSE’s ownership. The negotiations proceeded in a very professional manner, as you would expect, but this was aided significantly by Peter Counsell’s role as lead adviser. He maintained an air of calm that helped the transaction move to a successful conclusion.”

Roy Allan

Murston Plant

“This was a complex transaction, handled with great skill by Peter Counsell at Meta. We had to find a structure that accommodated the requirements of the exiting, ongoing and incoming shareholders and of the funders. Peter’s experience in building such structures and his knowledge of the funding market was vital to the achievement of those requirements.”

Tim Mann

The Brantham Group