header photo

 

David Kelmanson, Chief Executive Officer

David founded Larus in 2013 to provide clients with a bespoke, more intimate and highly cost-effective consultancy service as an alternative to that offered by larger, impersonal, expensive and less focused service providers. Since its incorporation, Larus has successfully arranged finance for, and has been mandated as financial adviser in relation to, $5 billion of aircraft pre-delivery payment, term financing and procurement transactions for several major airlines. David has also acted as senior financial adviser to a range of aviation and corporate clients.  

David brings to Larus a wealth of experience gained during a highly successful and distinguished career spanning more than four decades as a structured, export, aviation and corporate financier. From 1977 until 1986 David specialised in trade, export and project finance. From 1986 until 2002 he was a senior aviation lender and arranger and led the European, Middle East and African aircraft finance divisions at two major international banks, where he established highly successful loan portfolios valued in excess of $6 billion.

Between 2002 and 2013, David was a Director at Spectrum Capital Limited, a London based aviation investment bank, where he executed a number of high profile financial consultancy roles and arranged big-ticket financings for over two hundred aircraft valued in excess of $7 billion. Transactions included senior and junior commercial loans, pre-delivery payment finance, export credits, finance and operating leases, Japanese leases, German leases, equity, manufacturer finance, corporate finance, project finance, securitisations and capital market transactions, including several financings awarded "Deal of the Year" status by his peers and the aviation industry financial press.

David qualified as an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in 1981. He was formerly Chairman and lecturer at the Euromoney's Aviation Finance School. In 2022 he was recognised in an Airline Economics survey as one of the aviation industry's top 40 mentors.