Latest news with #Aquila
IOL News
5 days ago
- Sport
- IOL News
Kevin Lerena Promotes Fistic Havoc: A New Era for African Boxing
BOYD Allen will be headlining the bill of the Aquilla Boxing Promotions hosted Fistic Havoc at the Sandton Convention Centre. | Supplied It is a fight that excites Lerena: 'This fight speaks to everything we're trying to do at Aquila. It's about opportunity, it's about quality matchups, and it's about putting African talent on a bigger stage. We don't want to just put on fights, we want to raise the standard. If you're fighting under the Aquila banner, it means you're part of something bigger.' Allen, a former Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) superstar takes on Botswana's undefeated Kagiso Bagwasi with the IBO All Africa Super Welterweight title at stake. To be headlined by the fast-improving Boyd Allen, whose switch from Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) to boxing has been phenomenal, the eight-fight bill promises to be a thrilling affair. The fledgling promotions company has been steadily carving out a new lane for local boxing, one that respects tradition but demands excellence. And this latest offering on June 21 speaks to exactly that. FRESH FROM successfully defending his WBC Bridgerweight title, Kevin Lerena trades the gloves for a suit this month in his role as promoter when his Aquilla Boxing Promotions hosts Fistic Havoc at the Sandton Convention Centre. It is what Allen wanted when he made the switch of sport – he took a rare move for a competitor, he abandoned the world of success and started anew. "I wanted it to be consistent. I wasn't looking for the sporadic flashy matchup. I wanted to construct something again.' And he has done exactly that alright, the man who had built up a 16-6-1 MMA record in featherweight and lightweight fights chalking up eight victories with a draw and a defeat in the sweet science of boxing. 'He's not a crossover guy, he's a total pro," Lerena says. "What Boyd's accomplished is a one-off. He did not just show up- he evolved. This is his new normal.' On paper, Allen is ring-wise. He's been tested. He's been around the block a few times. He's fought under adversity. But facing him in the ring will be a real headache – Bagwasi is a rising star from across the border with an impressive unbeaten record in his six fights – three of which he won by stoppages. His explosive first-round knockout of Almighty Moyo in March raised eyebrows across the region and made him a serious title contender. For Allen, the mission is clear: win the belt, silence any lingering doubts, and continue building toward a legacy not just as an MMA standout, but as a legitimate boxing force. He's not chasing hype — he's chasing greatness. 'This fight is important,' Allen has said. 'Not just for the title, but for everything I've put into this sport since stepping away from MMA. I'm all in.' Also all in are the backers of Lerena and Aquila Boxing Promotions, a fact the man they call Two Guns is quick to acknowledge. "We're beyond grateful to have powerhouse partners in our corner, the kind who don't just support the vision, they supercharge it. Massive thanks to my sponsors: World Sports Betting, Tigris Wealth, Supersport, JCP Steel, and HP. Without your backing, this event wouldn't be the premier, high-calibre showcase it is today. You don't just elevate the event — you define it." Boyd will be out to define his already blossoming career on fight night.
Business Wire
21-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Aquila Air Capital Names Gary Lew Chief Financial Officer
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aquila Air Capital ('Aquila'), a leading engine lessor backed by funds managed by New York-based global alternative asset manager Wafra, announced the appointment of Gary Lew as Chief Financial Officer. With his proven expertise in finance and capital markets, coupled with an extensive industry background, Gary will significantly enhance our leadership team. Bringing over twenty-five years of industry experience focused on investment strategy, capital markets, corporate finance, and asset management to his new role, Lew will lead the establishment of Aquila's financial organization and oversee all aspects of the company's corporate development, partnerships, strategic financing initiatives, and capital markets activity. 'With his proven expertise in finance and capital markets, coupled with an extensive industry background, Gary will significantly enhance our leadership team. This positions Aquila to lead confidently through our next chapter as a trusted and strategic provider of thrust for the industry,' says Al Wood, Chief Executive Officer of Aquila Air Capital. Lew joins Aquila after founding Capitola Partners, which executed major multi-year engagements with a global lessor, an asset trading and management company, two major U.S.-based family offices, and an Ireland-based corporate services provider. Lew brings decades of experience, perspective, and deep industry relationships solidified at Capitola Partners and Vx Capital Partners as an investor, lessor, asset manager, and strategic advisor. Lew also serves as an Independent Director for two major ABS issuances and was an adjunct lecturer at St. Mary's College and UC Davis Graduate School of Management. 'I am excited and energized to join the proven Aquila platform to help Al and a very strong team to drive the next stage of growth. The investment thesis of Aquila, together with the momentum and support of a strategically-aligned capital partner in Wafra, provides a timely opportunity to scale and execute our financial initiatives to support our core investment objectives,' says Gary Lew, Chief Financial Officer of Aquila Air Capital. Prior to Capitola Partners, Lew was part of the founding team at Vx Capital Partners, sourcing and structuring equity and debt capital to support portfolio transactions, the VXF investment fund, and the CARGO 2018-1 ABS, while leading all finance, treasury, administration and portfolio management functions. Prior to that, he held positions at GATX Capital, Merrill Lynch, and the California Public Employees Retirement System, and appointments in both the Governor's Office and U.S. Senate. Gary holds a B.A. degree from the University of California Los Angeles and an M.B.A. degree from the University of California Davis. About Aquila Air Capital Founded in 2021, Aquila Air Capital ('Aquila') is a specialty finance platform focused on providing aviation asset financing, as well as purchasing and leasing aircraft and engines. Backed by funds managed by Wafra Inc., a New York-based, global alternative asset manager, and led by a management team with decades of experience in the aerospace and aviation industries, Aquila is a trusted partner to all players in the value chain, from buyers and sellers of assets to operators in need of creative and timely solutions for their critical business needs.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
OpenAP's TV network owners push ahead on interoperable streaming ads
This story was originally published on Marketing Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Marketing Dive newsletter. Ad tech company OpenAP's new Open Identity cross-platform identify solution will go live in May. The solution is designed to enable advertisers to identify single audiences across publishers, streamers and data providers, according to a press release. Acxiom, DeepSync, Experian, LiveRamp and TransUnion are on board and have agreed to standardize their data for use with the Open Identity offering. OpenAP is owned by Fox, NBCUniversal, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. The company described Open Identity as an evolution of its OpenID common TV identifier that goes further by enabling direct matching of identity data for more seamless usage for advertisers. In an increasingly fragmented media landscape, the quest for the perfect cross-platform audience targeting model continues. On the heels of agencies and data companies offering consumer identity solutions, Open Identity is a bid by the TV networks who own OpenAP to show they have something to offer as well. They aren't alone: The Association of National Advertisers is expected to roll out a beta test of its Aquila measurement solution in the near future, according to MediaPost. OpenAP's stakeholders assert that the Open Identity product has a strong point of differentiation because it was developed by TV broadcasters who know that advertisers want enhanced options for premium video. 'The workflow of the future for streaming video must be interoperable and data must connect seamlessly across all data providers, publishers, platforms and currencies,' said OpenAP CEO David Levy, in a statement. Once the product is live, publishers and data providers will connect their data sets to OpenAP's data clean room, which will allow advertisers to compose audiences with identify information across the industry without any additional 'crosswalks,' according to OpenAP. Advertisers and publishers will then use Open Identity to define the identity providers they want to use on a campaign as well as the business logic that governs targeting and measurement. The news is the latest example of the premium that the marketing and advertising industry has placed on data. Earlier this month, WPP acquired data collaboration platform InfoSum in a bid to boost the holding company's AI-powered data intelligence and consumer identity capabilities. That acquisition followed Publicis Groupe's purchase of identity solutions firm Lotame for similar purposes. Recommended Reading Aquila shares progress report as it works to fix cross-media measurement Sign in to access your portfolio
Express Tribune
12-04-2025
- Science
- Express Tribune
Webb telescope reveals alien planet died in fiery plunge toward its star
An artist's concept shows a ring of hot gas left after a star consumed a planet, in this undated illustration. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope observed such a ring and also found an expanding cloud of cooler dust enveloping the scene. PHOTO: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)/Handout via REUTERS Listen to article In May 2020, astronomers for the first time observed a planet getting swallowed by its host star. Based on the data at the time, they believed the planet met its doom as the star puffed up late in its lifespan, becoming what is called a red giant. New observations by the James Webb Space Telescope - sort of a postmortem examination - indicate that the planet's demise happened differently than initially thought. Instead of the star coming to the planet, it appears the planet came to the star, with disastrous consequences - a death plunge after an erosion of this alien world's orbit over time, researchers said. The end was quite dramatic, as evidenced by the aftermath documented by Webb. The orbiting telescope, which was launched in 2021 and became operational in 2022, observed hot gas likely forming a ring around the star following the event and an expanding cloud of cooler dust enveloping the scene. "We do know that there is a good amount of material from the star that gets expelled as the planet goes through its death plunge. The after-the-fact evidence is this dusty leftover material that was ejected from the host star," said astronomer Ryan Lau of the US. National Science Foundation's NOIRLab, lead author of the study published in the Astrophysical Journal The star is located in our Milky Way galaxy about 12,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Aquila. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). The star is slightly redder and less luminous than our sun and about 70% of its mass. The planet is believed to have been from a class called "hot Jupiters" - gas giants at high temperatures owing to a tight orbit around their host star. "We believe it probably had to be a giant planet, at least a few times the mass of Jupiter, to cause as dramatic of a disturbance to the star as what we are seeing," said study co-author Morgan MacLeod, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Jupiter is our solar system's largest planet. The researchers believe that the planet's orbit had gradually deteriorated due to its gravitational interaction with the star, and hypothesized about what happened next. "Then it starts grazing through the atmosphere of the star. At that point, the headwind of smashing through the stellar atmosphere takes over and the planet falls increasingly rapidly into the star," MacLeod said. "The planet both falls inward and gets stripped of its gaseous outer layers as it plows deeper into the star. Along the way, that smashing heats up and expels stellar gas, which gives rise to the light we see and the gas, dust and molecules that now surround the star," MacLeod said. But they cannot be certain of the actual fatal events. "In this case, we saw how the plunge of the planet affected the star, but we don't truly know for certain what happened to the planet. In astronomy there are lots of things way too big and way too 'out there' to do experiments on. We can't go to the lab and smash a star and planet together - that would be diabolical. But we can try to reconstruct what happened in computer models," MacLeod said. None of our solar system's planets are close enough to the sun for their orbits to decay, as happened here. That does not mean that the sun will not eventually swallow any of them. About five billion years from now, the sun is expected to expand outward in its red giant phase and could well engulf the innermost planets Mercury and Venus, and maybe even Earth. During this phase, a star blows off its outer layers, leaving just a core behind - a stellar remnant called a white dwarf. Webb's new observations are giving clues about the planetary endgame. "Our observations hint that maybe planets are more likely to meet their final fates by slowly spiraling in towards their host star instead of the star turning into a red giant to swallow them up. Our solar system seems to be relatively stable though, so we only have to worry about the sun becoming a red giant and swallowing us up," Lau said.
Reuters
11-04-2025
- Science
- Reuters
Webb telescope documents alien planet's death plunge into a star
WASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) - In May 2020, astronomers for the first time observed a planet getting swallowed by its host star. Based on the data at the time, they believed the planet met its doom as the star puffed up late in its lifespan, becoming what is called a red giant. New observations by the James Webb Space Telescope - sort of a postmortem examination - indicate that the planet's demise happened differently than initially thought. Instead of the star coming to the planet, it appears the planet came to the star, with disastrous consequences - a death plunge after an erosion of this alien world's orbit over time, researchers said. Make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. Sign up here. The end was quite dramatic, as evidenced by the aftermath documented by Webb. The orbiting telescope, which was launched in 2021 and became operational in 2022, observed hot gas likely forming a ring around the star following the event and an expanding cloud of cooler dust enveloping the scene. "We do know that there is a good amount of material from the star that gets expelled as the planet goes through its death plunge. The after-the-fact evidence is this dusty leftover material that was ejected from the host star," said astronomer Ryan Lau of the U.S. National Science Foundation's NOIRLab, lead author of the study published in the Astrophysical Journal, opens new tab. The star is located in our Milky Way galaxy about 12,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Aquila. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). The star is slightly redder and less luminous than our sun and about 70% of its mass. The planet is believed to have been from a class called " hot Jupiters" - gas giants at high temperatures owing to a tight orbit around their host star. "We believe it probably had to be a giant planet, at least a few times the mass of Jupiter, to cause as dramatic of a disturbance to the star as what we are seeing," said study co-author Morgan MacLeod, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Jupiter is our solar system's largest planet. The researchers believe that the planet's orbit had gradually deteriorated due to its gravitational interaction with the star, and hypothesized about what happened next. "Then it starts grazing through the atmosphere of the star. At that point, the headwind of smashing through the stellar atmosphere takes over and the planet falls increasingly rapidly into the star," MacLeod said. "The planet both falls inward and gets stripped of its gaseous outer layers as it plows deeper into the star. Along the way, that smashing heats up and expels stellar gas, which gives rise to the light we see and the gas, dust and molecules that now surround the star," MacLeod said. But they cannot be certain of the actual fatal events. "In this case, we saw how the plunge of the planet affected the star, but we don't truly know for certain what happened to the planet. In astronomy there are lots of things way too big and way too 'out there' to do experiments on. We can't go to the lab and smash a star and planet together - that would be diabolical. But we can try to reconstruct what happened in computer models," MacLeod said. None of our solar system's planets are close enough to the sun for their orbits to decay, as happened here. That does not mean that the sun will not eventually swallow any of them. About five billion years from now, the sun is expected to expand outward in its red giant phase and could well engulf the innermost planets Mercury and Venus, and maybe even Earth. During this phase, a star blows off its outer layers, leaving just a core behind - a stellar remnant called a white dwarf. Webb's new observations are giving clues about the planetary endgame. "Our observations hint that maybe planets are more likely to meet their final fates by slowly spiraling in towards their host star instead of the star turning into a red giant to swallow them up. Our solar system seems to be relatively stable though, so we only have to worry about the sun becoming a red giant and swallowing us up," Lau said.
