Speechly, K&L gates take jet hirer to aim

Speechly Bircham and Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis (K&L Gates) have advised on the £73.4m AIM listing of a commerial jet hire company.

K&L Gates acted for nominated adviser (nomad) WH Ireland on the flotation of Capital Lease Aviation (CLA).

Speechly Bircham, led by private equity partner Andrew Clarke, acted for CLA in the deal.

Partner Jeremy Landau headed the K&L Gates team, assisted by corporate assistants Simon Down and Joe Lavelle.

CLA will use a pre-expenses windfall of £11.45m to buy new jets and expand its business, leasing aircraft to regional and international airlines.

The company secured a pre-IPO placing of 24p per share, worth £73.4m after its admission to AIM.