Contributor - Middle East

Peter Shaw-Smith

The mandate of Abu Dhabi-based aviation investment vehicle Serenity Aviation Holding has widened from business aviation to include commercial aviation, the military, airports, MROs, and advanced air mobility, CEO Rob DiCastri told attendees yesterday at Corporate Jet Investor Dubai.
Established in 2021, Serenity is majority-owned by the <a href="https://www.ihcuae.com/about-us">International Holding Company</a>&nbsp;(IHC), a UAE-based group of more than 500 companies. “They’re the fastest-growing holding company—and the second-largest listed—in the region now, at something like a $350 billion market capitalization,” he said.
DiCastri said the company was now engaged in six different acquisitions “from small to very large,” while four different joint ventures were in the process of being formed.
Serenity was created to build and consolidate aviation services in Abu Dhabi and grow its economy, he said. “It’s a very wide mandate…It’s not just private aviation, which, of course, is my background. It’s commercial aviation, military, airports, MROs, that type of thing. The mandate that I have is to go out and find the best brands in the world.”
DiCastri took over the lead role at Serenity in August 2022, after serving for six years as CEO of Royal Jet Group, the UAE charter concern that is now understood to operate more than a dozen BBJs.
Serenity seeks to acquire controlling stakes in&nbsp;international companies or create joint ventures with them, and then bring them to Abu Dhabi to fill in gaps in the local market, further elevate the image of the UAE capital in aviation, grow the economy, and raise the profile, level, and quality of services.
“Things in Abu Dhabi have been a bit disjointed in the past,” he said. “There’s competition where there shouldn’t be; there’s a lack of some services in Abu Dhabi that need to be there. My mandate is to go and find entities like this. There’s a lot to be done. That’s what Serenity is all about.”
For DiCastri, areas of consolidation in aircraft operators and brokerage, the looming launch of urban air mobility, and the ground infrastructure that the industry would require were all of interest.
“Have people finished doing their consolidation—the Vistas and that kind of thing—where they’ve eaten up some of the companies—the big Signature and Atlantic deals that have taken some of the availability out of the market?” he asked. “There are still deals out there, coming to us. There’s lots of opportunity.”
Many people in advanced air mobility and eVTOL were looking for funding whether for startups or to scale existing ventures, he said.
“That’s where most conversations happen. I’ll be clear: those are not our targets, because the timeline is too long and the risk too high. We need to be closer to revenue generation and profitability. If we want to fund, we are looking for opportunities to scale, to buy companies that need funding and want to scale: scale for value, scale for growth, those types of things, but not where we’re five years away. ‘We don’t even know if we’re going to get certified.’ There sure are a lot of those deals out there.”
According to industry estimates, between 170 and 300 eVTOL designs exist, but he sees more scope for involvement in the infrastructure, vertiports, charging stations, and operators AAM would require.
“Someone needs to operate these things,” he said. “Just like aircraft management and helicopter companies, you can operate multiple types; you can have the group. If you build up something like that and say you are type-agnostic, maybe that’s where the funding should go. We’re staying away ourselves from trying to pick a horse, as opposed to really focusing on that.”
DiCastri plans longer holding periods than the typical private equity-style five-year lifespans, with IPOs, which are flourishing on stock markets in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, as the preferred exit strategy.
“Our mandate specifically is to acquire scale, increase the value and then do a partial exit through, say, a 25 percent IPO. IHC, our parent company, is exactly the same. They’re 25 percent public, and 75 percent privately.”
For DiCastri, Royal Jet largely involved moving money around locally, which instructs his new international focus. “That money’s moving from a ministry, or [entity], to the company. Whatever we could do at Royal Jet to sell outside the country brought in net growth, and created and maintained jobs. That’s our longer-term goal. We’re looking at everything and anything that’s got the potential to be scaled. That’s a strong brand, with strong leadership and funding needs.”
Asked by CJI co-founder Alasdair Whyte how long the downturn would be if a major or even small U.S. recession took place, DiCastri said: “If it happens, I don’t think it’ll be that long.
“I think we can only just look to Covid for an example. That was the worst impact on the global economy in 100 years, maybe. And how fast did business aviation bounce back? Now, it didn’t bounce back necessarily in all areas, let’s say, but it was very quick. I go back to that resilience of the different models and products that are available in the sector. Once you fly business or private aviation, of course, you don’t want to go back—you’ll find another option.”

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