InterVest Capital Partners has demonstrated how Shariah-compliant leasing structures can be applied at institutional scale across complex, asset-backed investment strategies.
With roots dating back to 1999, InterVest has built one of the market’s most established specialty finance platforms, combining expertise in leasing, structured credit, real estate and other asset-backed strategies. Its ability to originate, structure and manage diversified portfolios of real assets – while maintaining strict Shariah compliance – has enabled InterVest to build a differentiated position in the global Islamic leasing and specialty finance market.
InterVest’s scale is a key differentiator. As of September 2025, the firm managed $12.7 billion of unleveraged assets and had invested $25.4 billion across all managed vehicles since inception. It provides access to 23 specialist finance platforms, including equipment leasing, aircraft, maritime and real estate strategies. Those platforms collectively generated estimated originations of $21.3 billion in 2025, giving InterVest proprietary access to diversified asset-backed opportunities across North America and Europe.
The firm’s Islamic finance capabilities have developed alongside that broader specialty finance platform. InterVest has managed Shariah-compliant capital since the 2000s and employs a range of Islamic structures including ijarah, murabaha and bay’ al-salam. In 2025, it raised $1.2 billion across Shariah-compliant specialty finance mandates and a further $1 billion across Shariah-compliant real estate mandates, reflecting growing institutional appetite for alternative Islamic investment strategies.
We have not only witnessed the evolution of this space but actively shaped it, helping to define transaction structures, fund frameworks and asset exposures that meet Shariah standards
Michael Gontar
“Among the pioneers of Shariah-compliant investing in private markets and specialty finance, our journey began in 1999 – a time when such strategies occupied only a small corner of the financial world,” says Michael Gontar, chief executive officer of InterVest Capital Partners. “Over the decades, we have not only witnessed the evolution of this space but actively shaped it, helping to define transaction structures, fund frameworks and asset exposures that meet Shariah standards.”
The scale of that evolution has accelerated as Islamic investors seek broader exposure to private market opportunities. InterVest’s Shariah-compliant business recorded an assets under management compound annual growth rate of 20.1% between 2021 and 2025.
“Today, the industry has matured significantly, enabling investors to deploy capital at scale across asset classes,” says Gontar. “That said, industry-wide growth should not overshadow what truly matters: the investment manager’s track record.”
Innovative transaction structures
A landmark example of InterVest’s capabilities came in August 2025 through the Shariah-compliant acquisition of a 16-aircraft portfolio from Merx Aviation Finance, an affiliate of Apollo Investment Management. The $97 million investment demonstrated the ability of Islamic finance structures to support sophisticated cross-border leasing transactions involving globally diversified real assets.
The portfolio comprised eight Airbus A320 aircraft, seven Boeing 737 aircraft and one Airbus A330, all fully leased to passenger airlines across a range of jurisdictions in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. The aircraft had an average age of approximately 14 years and a weighted average remaining lease term of around 40 months, providing investors with contracted cash flows while retaining future re-leasing flexibility.
Initially structured through a murabaha arrangement, the transaction combined Shariah compliance with diversified revenues secured against mid-life aviation assets. It also reflected InterVest’s broader approach of targeting asset classes where specialist expertise, disciplined underwriting and operational oversight support predictable cash flows and risk management.
That approach has been tested across multiple market cycles. Since its foundation, InterVest says it has achieved target returns across all vehicles in its specialty finance programme. The firm points to its focus on asset-backed lending, granular asset-by-asset underwriting and its ability to monitor large pools of specialised assets as central elements of its investment approach.
A defining feature of the firm’s model is alignment with investors. InterVest describes itself as an “invested investor”, with the firm and its partners co-investing in subordinate positions on transactions to provide additional credit enhancement. By effectively taking a first-loss position, the model is designed to align the interests of InterVest, its partners and investors.
InterVest’s strategy has also evolved through long-term partnerships. Across its programme, more than 160 fixed-return investment vehicles have been launched, with the firm building customised portfolios designed around investor requirements including target returns, risk requirements, leverage tolerance and environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.
The firm’s development has been supported by continuity within its leadership team. Today, InterVest is 100% employee owned and reports no turnover among its senior investment team since inception.
By combining deep Shariah structuring expertise, specialist investment knowledge and access to proprietary asset-backed opportunities, InterVest has helped demonstrate how Islamic finance can be applied across an increasingly diverse range of private market strategies. Its growth and transaction activity in 2025 highlighted the role that Islamic structures can play in connecting institutional investors with complex global real asset opportunities.
