American Corporate Airport Partners (ACAP) is a new partnership formed of national commercial real estate development and design-build company Western, and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management and Connor Capital, that aims to develop, build, finance and manage corporate and business aviation infrastructure assets at airports across the US. ACAP is backed by an initial $100 million capital commitment from Oaktree that will be deployed to provide financing for the construction of business and corporate aviation projects in the US.

The first project in the ACAP portfolio has already broken ground. It is a corporate aviation hangar complex at San Antonio International airport that is underpinned by a 30-year ground lease with the airport. When completed by the end of 2019, the complex will offer a state-of-the-art hangar and related office and ancillary space to high quality tenants in a critical aviation market in the state of Texas.

“We view ACAP as an attractive aviation infrastructure platform and consider the San Antonio project as an ideal first investment in this partnership. We are excited to partner with Western and capitalise on the reputation that it has developed in the business and corporate aviation sector,” says Oaktree co-portfolio manager Josh Connor.

The remainder of the Oaktree commitment not deployed for the San Antonio project will be committed to future opportunities in the Western pipeline. “To date, the ownership of these critical airport assets is highly fragmented and comes with significant barriers to entry. As a result, we believe there is opportunity in this market for ACAP to provide its development expertise as well as seamless financing for these projects, and eliminate the capital burden for airports and their tenants. We look forward to a long and successful partnership with the Western team,” adds Oaktree co-portfolio manager Emmett McCann.

Oaktree's transportation infrastructure strategy is led by McCann and Connor who between them have 45 years of industry experience. Oaktree is supported by a team of experienced investment professionals as well as a strong bench of operating partners and senior advisors, including former JetBlue CEO Dave Barger and former director of aviation of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Thomas Bosco.

“We are extremely excited to form this partnership with Oaktree,” adds Western CEO Brad Henderson. “The depth of knowledge, commitment to improving US transportation infrastructure and experience of the Oaktree team contributes to the strong strategic and financial partnership that allows Western to scale operations and continue to deliver projects on time and under budget for its valued customers.”