Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is acting for U.S.-based CIT Group on the $10 billion sale of its aircraft leasing business to Avolon Holdings, which turned to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Weil Gotshal Manges for legal advice.

According to Avolon, a unit of Chinese conglomerate HNA Group, the deal is expected to double the scale of its business and will give rise to the world's third-biggest aircraft leasing platform. The transaction, which will be completed in the first quarter of 2017, will be funded via debt financing worth $8.5 billion combined with Avolon's cash and new equity from HNA Group-controlled Bohai Leasing Co Ltd.

London-based Rob Murphy, Freshfields’ global head of asset finance and co-head of aviation, handled the transaction for the firm. Weil’s team was led by global private equity co-head Douglas Warner and included partners Jennifer Bensch, Andrew Yoon, Kimberly Blanchard, Sarah Downie, Ted Posner, Randi Singer and Jeffrey Osterman.

The combined company will have a total fleet of 910 aircrafts worth $43 billion. The customer base is also set to expand dramatically, growing from 69 airlines in 20 countries to 154 customers in 61 countries.