“Lobo CEO Dan Roberts interviewed by Heli Investor about the first ten years of Lobo Leasing’s operations”‍

Lobo Leasing has just celebrated the 10-year anniversary of closing its first helicopter acquisition. It has been a fascinating decade, both for Lobo and for the wider helicopter finance industry.

Dan Roberts has been with Lobo throughout this period. Starting as general counsel in 2014, he now leads the Irish leasing company as CEO and majority shareholder.

From the start, Lobo was a cautious lessor – focusing on incremental platform growth and avoiding speculative orders. “We listened to operators who said they did not want lessors placing orders. This turned out to be the right strategy, although we never got any prizes for this,” says Roberts.

The Chapter 11 of helicopter operator CHC in May 2016 was a huge challenge for helicopter lessors. Lobo had to renegotiate multiple lease agreements and manage the immediate return of some helicopters in the middle of the deepest of down-cycles. “Our solution was to do a very early deal with CHC,” says Roberts. “We then had certainty and CHC had the benefit of using us as an example of what they could achieve with other lessors.”

The post-CHC remarketing challenge was a coming-of-age moment for the young Lobo. The most imaginative solutions were necessary. “We certainly made the very best out of a bad situation” says Roberts.

Lobo then began a transition to a new business model – to a multi-client investment platform rather than a traditional owner. Lobo began working with several capital partners, all with different investment criteria and priorities. In 2021, Lobo management bought full ownership of the company, enabling Lobo to offer truly independent investment management services.

In 2022, Lobo and German finance company EMP Structured Assets created a joint venture (LEVL Leasing) focused on the European helicopter market. LEVL deployed all its initial committed equity capital within 18 months and closed debt facilities with Airbus Bank and Investec. Lobo also grew its managed fleet with investors from the US and Japan.

Between 2021 and today, Lobo has refreshed and extended its managed fleet through a mixture of lessor portfolio trades and sale-and-leasebacks. The platform now manages 55 helicopters and firefighting aircraft. “We have great partners who also are looking for different investments,” says Roberts.

Lobo has long horizons and is looking to the future of aviation. The company has directly invested in the Nuuva, a hVTOL cargo drone developed by Pipistrel (now owned by Textron). Speaking during the opening panel of our Helicopter Investor London conference this year, Roberts also mentioned Lobo had been recently looking into marine assets.

When talking about the future of Lobo, Roberts emphasises quality as much as growth. “We are not looking to be the biggest helicopter leasing platform,” says Roberts. “We are at our best when we bring efficiencies and modernity to asset management.”

“The launch of helicopter leasing has certainly not been boring,” adds Roberts in summary. “We are really excited about the next 10 years.”

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