SHANNON, Ireland, January 22, 2014 -- GE Capital Aviation Services Limited (GECAS), the commercial aircraft leasing and financing arm of GE, today announced it received an award for "Americas Deal of the Year" from Airline Economics for its participation in the 2013 AABS Limited transaction.
The $650 million aircraft sale by GECAS to AABS and AABS' equity placement and aircraft securitization closed in January 2013 and involved 26 narrowbody aircraft on lease with 16 different airlines across 11 countries. It received strong investor appeal, pricing at 101 percent above par.
"We honored and recognized the large and innovative sale and securitization as a truly groundbreaking deal in 2013," said Victoria Tozer-Pennington, editor, Airline Economics. "It demonstrated the continued strength of the aircraft financing sector and exemplified GECAS' leadership."
"Our ability to handle large, complex aircraft financing transactions is what sets us apart from other firms," said Trevor Ricards, senior vice president of capital markets for GECAS. "We're thrilled to be recognized by Airline Economics and appreciate the honor."
In November 2013, the AABS Limited securitization was awarded "2013 Aircraft Lessor Finance Deal of the Year" by Global Transport Finance.
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 lenders while Clifford Chance advised GECAS.
Dan Whitney
GE Capital Aviation Services
[email protected]
203-585-2268
203-300-8707