Oaktree Capital’s 40-Year Lease to Operate Westchester County Airport

Cleary Gottlieb is representing Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., in connection with the proposed public-private partnership for operation of the Westchester County Airport.

Subject to receiving necessary approvals, Oaktree will enter into a 40-year lease for the airport, pursuant to which it will make an upfront payment to the County of Westchester of $130 million and commit to expend at least $30 million on Oaktree-funded capital improvements over the first five years of the lease. The lease will also provide for  a long-term revenue sharing arrangement between Oaktree and the county.

Upon closing, the lease will be the second successful public-private partnership transaction under the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Privatization Pilot Program. Cleary represented Aerostar Airport Holdings, a joint venture between Cleary clients Highstar Capital (which now comprises Oaktree’s infrastructure investing group) and Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, in the successful privatization of the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2013; the firm also represented Highstar Capital in connection with the public-private partnership with the Maryland Port Administration for the Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore.