Did the International Lease Finance Corporation find long-lasting safety in its merger with AIG?
Did the International Lease Finance Corporation find long-lasting safety in its merger with AIG?
Air Finance Case A (ILFC, 1990—2014: AIG Merger, AIG Divestiture) examines the transition of California-based International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) from public company in the 1980s to subsidiary of AAA-rated global insurance leader American International Group (AIG) from 1990 to 2014, when a deeply impaired AIG, still reeling from the effects of the 2008 financial crisis, sold ILFC to new public leader, Europe-based AerCap, as part of a broad program to divest non-core businesses. This case, in union with Air Finance Case B (The GPA Restructuring and the Creation of GE Capital Aviation Services), poses fundamental questions about capital formation and the problems of both public and private corporate ownership in capital intensive businesses that require constant financing, often in capital markets that can retrench.