Posted December 14, 2010 11:55 AM
By Fay Sanders
Jackson Square secures USD 400m credit facility with eight year term-out feature, targets 35-50 narrowbodies for 2011
Jackson Square Aviation (JSA) has closed a USD 400m secured credit facility with a term-out feature that extends to late 2018. The facility, which has been equally split between its agent DVB Bank SE and joint underwriters Credit Agricole CIB, BNP Paribas and KfW IPEX-Bank, provides the availability to draw down through to mid-2012.
The structure differs from warehouse credit facilities in other recent aviation deals, which have tended to involve two years of availability with two years to refinance. “The banks agreed to extend the refinancing period and to shorten the availability from 24 months to 18, after we identified which specific aircraft we wanted to be financed through the facility,” explained Scott Weiss, JSA’s COO and executive vice president of capital markets.
Mayer Brown is acting as legal adviser to JSA in the deal, while Vedder Price is representing the banks.
Around half of the facility will be used to finance aircraft that JSA currently owns or is under firm commitment to purchase. The group has already committed to purchase 35 aircraft between now and mid-2012 comprising 737-800s, A319s and A321-200s, according to Weiss. JSA also purchases widebodies and is understood to have A330s and Boeing 777s in its pipeline. Altogether, the leasing firm has over USD 1.5 bn in aircraft owned or under firm commitment to purchase through to 2012.
This remainder of the facility will be used to finance new deliveries of next-generation Airbus and Boeing aircraft with major airlines around the world. The San Francisco-headquartered group is set to acquire 30-50 narrowbodies in 2011, Weiss remarked.
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