SHANNON, Ireland, May 24, 2014 -- GE Capital Aviation Services Limited (GECAS), the commercial aviation financing arm of GE, today announced it received an award for "Capital Markets Deal of the Year" from AirFinance Journal for its participation in the 2013 AABS Limited transaction.
The $650 million aircraft sale by GECAS to AABS and AABS' subsequent equity placement and aircraft securitization closed in January 2013 and involved 26 narrowbody aircraft on lease with 16 different airlines across 11 countries. GECAS has entered into a long-term servicing agreement with AABS.
"In a particularly strong year for aviation issuances, this asset-backed transaction stood out as truly novel financing," said Dickon Harris, Airfinance Journal editor. "The deal introduced several innovations for the ABS structure by combining different debt and equity tranches, and helped attract new investors to the space."
Goldman Sachs acted as the sole structuring agent and global coordinator. Goldman, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole acted as joint lead arrangers and Deutsche Bank acted as co-manager. Milbank Tweed, Hadley & McCloy acted as legal counsel for the equity and lenders while Clifford Chance advised GECAS.
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