GL: Merchant West is a relatively new arrival in aviation financing, which requires specialist knowledge and is a small market. Is aviation an end in itself or a bridge to access a broader market of high net worth (HNW) individuals who are aircraft owners and operators?
BV: Merchant West has been financing assets for 25 years to the local corporate market across industries and sectors, as well as to HNW individuals. Our philosophy is to put the customer at the centre of our solution design process, under the premise that clients have multiple and diverse needs. We fund solar, farming, and mining equipment just as easily as we will finance that business owner or executive's aircraft. We have the expertise in-house to finance fixed wings or rotors and see the size of the market as being offset by the big-ticket prices for these assets. Its more than funding an asset purchase - clients also require finance for avionics upgrades, engine overhauls and rebuilds.
GL: Tell us about Merchant West - do you finance aviation across Africa?
BV: Merchant West is a privately owned financial services group based in South Africa. The group has a countrywide footprint with operations in other territories like Namibia, with an appraisal of the Botswana market underway at present. Insofar as aviation assets in Africa are concerned, our focus is on financing ZS aircraft registered with the SACAA.
GL: For many ageing aircraft, avionics and engine overhauls have become the single largest item of capital expenditure. Do you find the investment pays off in the value and saleability of the aircraft?
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Iris - her early years: IRIS FLIES ACROSS SUDAN
Laura McDermid continues her stories about Iris McCallum's early years in East Africa and the Sudan. In part 1 of this story she recounts how she had to fly a bunch of Belgian Missionaries to Aweil, a city in northwestern South Sudan, from Wilson in Nairobi in her old mate 'ARN', the Piper Aztec 5Y-ARN.
UGLY IS PRETTY: LEAR 25 VS PILATUS PC-6
When you go to a party where you don't know anybody, you should always go for the 'Ugly' girl, because she will be happy that you chose to spend time with her.
CIRRUS G7 LAUNCHED IN AFRICA
What makes one aircraft better than another? Range, Speed, or carrying capacity, short field performance, operating costs, high wing, low wing, side stick, traditional control yoke?
PRESIDENT'S TROPHY AIR RACE 2024
The annual Presidents Trophy Air Race (PTAR) is the highlight of the year for many competitive general aviation pilots.
THE ABSA LOWVELD AIRSHOW 2024
This year marked the thirtieth edition of the Lowveld airshow â and it was widely acclaimed as the best ever.
PREVIEW: AFRICAN AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE EXPO(AAD)
Guy Leitch finds out from AAD Exhibition Director, Ms Nakedi Phasha, how the buildup to this year's biennial expo is going, and what visitors and exhibitors can expect.
APRIL 2023
April has been a very quiet month on the local aviation marketplace with only nine new registration allocations and three deletions, according to the officially-supplied register review.
PIPISTREL PANTHERA FINALLY HERE
One of the world's most eagerly awaited piston single engine aircraft designs has finally arrived in South Africa. ZU-KTR is a long awaited Panthera, proudly owned by Bertus Kritzinger, a Free State trucker, and based at New Tempe in Bloemfontein, where the well-known Ferriera Aviation has assembled it.
STAGGERWING - ALREADY OLD WHEN NEW
The Staggerwing was the climax, and the end, of an era.
The Aim of Bombing
In modern warfare it's not the soldiers who die - it's the civilians. One of the best examples of this is carpet bombing.
