XOJET appoints Perella Weinberg Partners

XOJET Challenger 300

XOJET, the US private aviation company, has appointed Perella Weinberg Partners to advise on strategic options — including its possible sale.

 Perella Weinberg Partners is looking at a range of options including a capital raise, merger, the sale of the company or a strategic alliance.

XOJET’s largest shareholders are TPG, one of the world’s most-successful aviation investors, and Mubadalla, the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi. Although TPG is the largest shareholder, Mubadalla holds significant amounts of XOJET’s debt as well as effectively determining the company’s future direction. .

The two principal shareholders met with a number of possible buyers during the National Business Aviation Association Convention in October 2017. OneSky Aviation, the owner of FlexJet and Sentient Jet, was rumoured to have been in talks.

As a US operator XOJET needs to be at least 51%-owned by US shareholders.

XOJET added two Cessna Citation X aircraft to its fleet in 2017 and is looking to grow its fleet of owned aircraft  further from its current 43 in 2018.

“We have built a client-service franchise and fleet operation backed by state-of-the-art network algorithms that make us one of the most sophisticated, efficient and profitable companies in the industry,” said Brad Stewart. “The result is a robust, highly scalable private aviation business well-positioned for growth.”