Irish financier Domhnal Slattery is reportedly selling a joint controlling stake in his new Irish aircraft leasing business, Avolon, to three major private equity groups for $750m. He has secured a further $1bn in debt funding from UBS to finance the start-up.

Private equity groups Cinven, CVC and Oak Hill have agreed to inject $750m, which will be split equally. Denis Nayden, a former chairman and chief executive of GE Capital and a partner at Oak Hill, will become the new chairman of Avolon.

Slattery, the former head of Royal Bank of Scotland's aviation unit, is staying on as chief executive of Avolon. He has persuaded a number of key executives at the Dublin-based unit of RBS’s aviation capital division to jump ship to Avolon.

Banks have had to scale back their involvement in aviation leasing since the credit crunch started, but at the same time, many carriers are struggling to pay for new aircraft and looking to lease more planes. Some want to sell their aircraft to raise cash and then lease them back.

The private equity trio all have experience in the aviation sector, with Oak Hill active in the US market while CVC and Cinven have investments in Europe and Asia.