AIP Capital has acquired a 30% stake in Dreamstone Aviation Partners, a subsidiary of Dreamstone Partners, for an undisclosed amount. The investment seeks to boost AIP Capital's aviation interests across the Asia Pacific region, including in Dreamstone's South Korea base.
AIP Capital is the recently formed aviation asset management arm of 777 Partners and according to its website, has approximately USD10 billion deployed across debt and equity in the aviation sector, directly manages circa 30 aircraft, and has sixty-eight B737 MAX on order from Boeing (BOE, Washington National). ch-aviation recently reported that AIP Capital is pursuing a 10% stake in Eastar Jet (ZE, Seoul Gimpo). In a statement accompanying the news of the minority investment, Jared Ailstock, Managing Partner of AIP, said, "as investor appetite in Korea returns post-pandemic, we are confident this partnership will allow us to capitalize on those opportunities.”
"We expect the partnership between AIP and Dreamstone to be an effective platform supporting our go-to-market strategy," said Kenneth Kang, CEO of Dreamstone Aviation Partners. Dreamstone was established in 2019 and is a partnership between Seungwoo Yang, a former chairman of Deloitte Korea; Myungkyu Choi, a former CIO of Eugene Private Equity; and Kenneth Kang, Head of Aviation at Shinhan Investment Group.
AIP's target, Easter Jet, resumed flying in March after a three-year grounding brought on by the pandemic and financial difficulties. The low-cost carrier has changed ownership several times in the last few years, most recently when Seoul-based private equity firm picked up the airline for KRW35 billion won (USD26.7 million) in January 2023. CEO Cho Joong-seok has said the relaunched airline was performing well as post-pandemic travel demand bounces back in the country.
