SMBC Aviation Capital paid $1.35bn to join the group that bought Air Lease Corporation, and its slice of the buyer is lopsided: 4.99% of voting rights, 24.99% of economic interest. The figures appear in the interim report of its parent, Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing, for the six months to September 2026.
Small vote, larger claim
SMBC Aviation Capital agreed on 1 September 2025 to buy Air Lease with Sumitomo Corporation, Apollo Capital Management, L.P. and Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. The four own a newly created holding company, Sumisho Air Lease Corporation Designated Activity Company, which indirectly acquired all of Air Lease's issued shares on 8 April 2026. The 4.99% and 24.99% stakes are in that holding company. It is an equity-method affiliate of Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing, and the purchase price allocation is unfinished, so the accounting is provisional.
The report gives the aim as strengthening SMBC Aviation Capital's position as one of the leaders in aircraft leasing. Its table of aircraft purchase contracts lists deliveries from 2026 to 2032 that came with the Air Lease deal: Boeing 737 MAX, 787 and Airbus A220, A320neo and A330 orders.
A covenant, not a breach
Separately, SMBC Aviation Capital Hong Kong 2 Limited signed an unsecured syndicated loan of ¥471.9bn, drawn on 2 April 2026 and maturing between April 2031 and April 2033. DBS Bank Ltd. and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited were joint global coordinators. The covenant requires consolidated EBITDA of SMBC Aviation Capital and its subsidiaries to be at least 1.5 times interest expense. The filing reports a covenant, not a breach, and does not say the loan funded the Air Lease stake.
After the period closed, the same unit borrowed ¥266.0bn on 27 October 2026 to repay a ¥287.9bn syndicated loan, with the same 1.5 times floor.
Profit comparison
Net profit attributable to owners fell 17.5% to ¥53.9bn. The report cites the absence of last year's Russia-related insurance settlement, a $159mn payment booked as a ¥23.7bn extraordinary gain. Ordinary profit fell 8.5% to ¥86.1bn on weaker wholesale and real estate earnings.