Company
Merx Aviation is a global aircraft leasing, management and finance company based in New York and Dublin.
Merx was founded in September 2012 by Apollo Investment Corporation, a NASDAQ-listed business development company managed by Apollo Investment Management, L.P., an affiliate of Apollo Global Management, Inc.
Aircraft acquired since inception
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Asset Value since Inception
company data wrapper
Capabilities
Critical to the success of Merx’s platform is the complete integration of its five core competencies: The Investing & Finance, Marketing, Servicing & Management, Technical, and Legal teams function as a single unit to drive results.
Merx has an open mandate to invest in aviation assets, with full flexibility across the spectrum of investment scale, duration, asset type, asset age and structure. We target unique investment opportunities that provide attractive risk-adjusted returns. Our management team has extensive experience in hard asset investing and applies a rigorous underwriting standard, which focuses on the underlying intrinsic value of each aircraft, prioritizes capital preservation in downside scenarios, and contemplates multiple exit strategies for each investment.
Merx relies on an extensive aviation relationship network, composed of other lessors, airlines, private equity firms, hedge funds, aircraft asset managers, part-out shops, and OEMs, to source proprietary deal flow.
Merx maintains strong relationships with our wide customer base and we continuously extend our airline relationship network through our transaction origination and aircraft remarketing functions. We believe our open investment mandate and dynamic underwriting strategy allow us to offer a wide suite of lease structures and financing alternatives for our customer base. We have a demonstrated track record of responsiveness, flexibility and transparency that makes Merx a preferred partner in the leasing industry.
We structure balanced leases that provide necessary flexibility for both Merx and our airline customers, while ensuring adequate returns for all parties. Merx works to maximize value through active lease management, consistent engagement with our lessees, and an opportunistic, value-oriented approach to each of our investments. The Merx marketing team has extensive experience in selling, transitioning, and extending aircraft across various jurisdictions, asset types, and ages.
Merx is a full-service asset management platform, leveraging our well-established industry relationships and operational expertise to ensure performance across our owned and managed portfolio. Ongoing asset management functions include lease negotiation, contract management, technical oversight, lessee engagement, credit monitoring, and lease and financing compliance and enforcement.
Merx is the servicer for three aircraft asset-backed securitizations, MAPS 2018-1, MAPS 2019-1 and MAPS 2021-1, aircraft purchased through various joint ventures, and aviation assets across the broader Apollo platform.
Merx’s internal technical management team has extensive experience across all technical aspects of aircraft and engine leasing, including origination, negotiation, aircraft purchases, transitions and aircraft redeliveries and sales. Specific functions include delivery and return condition negotiation, on-site delivery and redelivery management, maintenance reserve forecasting and adjustment, maintenance claim review, annual inspection planning and oversight, and close collaboration with airframe and engine OEMs/MROs.
Merx’s in-house legal department has broad experience in negotiation, execution and management of aircraft acquisition, leasing and financing transactions, including new and used aircraft deliveries, transitions, lease enforcement and repossessions, as well as general corporate and compliance matters. Additionally, Merx maintains longstanding relationships with several market-leading law firms specializing in aviation finance, as well as experienced local counsel in jurisdictions around the world.
Senior Management Team
Management team with over 100 years of aviation experience across multiple economic cycles, with deep industry knowledge and strong relationships with key stakeholders globally.
Gary Rothschild
President & Chief Executive Officer
David Van Dorn
Chief Commercial Officer
Patrick Goodman
Chief Technical Officer
Alexander Green
General Counsel
Gary Rothschild
Gary Rothschild has served as President and Chief Executive Officer since Merx’s inception in 2012. Mr. Rothschild has more than 25 years of aviation finance experience. Prior to Merx, he was a Managing Director in Citi’s Structured Finance group, advising clients on transactions in excess of $10 billion across the energy and transportation sectors. While at Citi, Mr. Rothschild was responsible for the buildout and management of Citi’s aircraft trading and leasing business, successfully investing over $1 billion of capital across more than 80 aircraft. He joined Citi in 1998 from Milbank, where he was a member of its Transportation Finance Group. Mr. Rothschild is a graduate of Stanford University and The New York University School of Law.
David Van Dorn
David Van Dorn joined the company in 2012 as Chief Investment Officer. He manages the company’s aircraft portfolio as well as new investment analysis, execution and financing. Mr. Van Dorn has over 15 years of aviation leasing and finance experience. Previously, he was a Director in the Structured Finance Group at Citi, where, among other responsibilities, he worked on the development and management of Citi’s aircraft leasing and trading business. Mr. Van Dorn is a graduate of Boston University and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
Patrick Goodman
Patrick Goodman joined Merx in 2018 as Chief Technical Officer and manages the company’s technical functions across the entire owned and managed fleet. He is an EASA B-1 Licensed Aircraft Engineer with over 25 years of aviation technical experience, including 12 years of airline and MRO experience and 16 years in aircraft leasing. Mr. Goodman was formerly Senior Vice President - Technical in the Dublin office of Aircastle. While at Aircastle, he managed a team of technical aviation professionals and specialized in aircraft acquisitions, transitions, and sales. Mr. Goodman previously spent 10 years with Ryanair in various technical capacities, including as a maintenance engineer, on-site inspector, and Ryanair’s first New Aircraft Delivery Manager, accepting over 90 737NG aircraft.
Alexander Green
Alex Green was appointed General Counsel in 2018 and oversees the company’s legal and compliance matters and transaction execution. He has over 15 years of legal experience in aircraft leasing and finance. Prior to joining Merx, Mr. Green was Executive Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Secretary at Aircastle, where his responsibilities included a wide variety of aircraft acquisition, leasing and financing transactions, management of a team of legal professionals including attorneys, paralegals and contract managers, and general corporate, securities and compliance matters. Prior to joining Aircastle in 2007, he was an associate in the Transportation Finance department at Milbank, where his practice focused on aircraft portfolio securitizations, EETCs and other secured financings. Mr. Green is a graduate of Princeton University and Columbia University School of Law.
Gary Rothschild
President & Chief Executive Officer
David Van Dorn
Chief Commercial Officer
Patrick Goodman
Chief Technical Officer
Gary Rothschild
Gary Rothschild has served as President and Chief Executive Officer since Merx’s inception in 2012. Mr. Rothschild has more than 25 years of aviation finance experience. Prior to Merx, he was a Managing Director in Citi’s Structured Finance group, advising clients on transactions in excess of $10 billion across the energy and transportation sectors. While at Citi, Mr. Rothschild was responsible for the buildout and management of Citi’s aircraft trading and leasing business, successfully investing over $1 billion of capital across more than 80 aircraft. He joined Citi in 1998 from Milbank, where he was a member of its Transportation Finance Group. Mr. Rothschild is a graduate of Stanford University and The New York University School of Law.
David Van Dorn
David Van Dorn joined the company in 2012 as Chief Investment Officer. He manages the company’s aircraft portfolio as well as new investment analysis, execution and financing. Mr. Van Dorn has over 15 years of aviation leasing and finance experience. Previously, he was a Director in the Structured Finance Group at Citi, where, among other responsibilities, he worked on the development and management of Citi’s aircraft leasing and trading business. Mr. Van Dorn is a graduate of Boston University and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
Patrick Goodman
Patrick Goodman joined Merx in 2018 as Chief Technical Officer and manages the company’s technical functions across the entire owned and managed fleet. He is an EASA B-1 Licensed Aircraft Engineer with over 25 years of aviation technical experience, including 12 years of airline and MRO experience and 16 years in aircraft leasing. Mr. Goodman was formerly Senior Vice President - Technical in the Dublin office of Aircastle. While at Aircastle, he managed a team of technical aviation professionals and specialized in aircraft acquisitions, transitions, and sales. Mr. Goodman previously spent 10 years with Ryanair in various technical capacities, including as a maintenance engineer, on-site inspector, and Ryanair’s first New Aircraft Delivery Manager, accepting over 90 737NG aircraft.
Alexander Green
General Counsel
Alexander Green
Alex Green was appointed General Counsel in 2018 and oversees the company’s legal and compliance matters and transaction execution. He has over 15 years of legal experience in aircraft leasing and finance. Prior to joining Merx, Mr. Green was Executive Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Secretary at Aircastle, where his responsibilities included a wide variety of aircraft acquisition, leasing and financing transactions, management of a team of legal professionals including attorneys, paralegals and contract managers, and general corporate, securities and compliance matters. Prior to joining Aircastle in 2007, he was an associate in the Transportation Finance department at Milbank, where his practice focused on aircraft portfolio securitizations, EETCs and other secured financings. Mr. Green is a graduate of Princeton University and Columbia University School of Law.
Apollo Global Management
Merx is a wholly-owned portfolio company of Apollo Investment Corporation (“AINV”), a publicly traded business development company managed by an affiliate of Apollo Global Management (“AGM”)
AINV is externally managed by Apollo Investment Management, L.P., an affiliate of AGM. Apollo Global Management is a leading global alternative investment manager with approximately $515bn of AUM as of June 30, 2022 across Yield, Hybrid and Equity strategies.
AINV is a leading specialty finance company that provides customized financing solutions to private middle-market companies, primarily in the United States. As of June 30, 2022, AINV had a $2.55 billion portfolio, at fair value, across 140 portfolio companies. AINV's investment objective is to generate current income and capital appreciation.
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