Vedder Price is pleased to announce that it advised Air Canada in connection with the offer and sale of more than $1 billion of the airline’s 2015-1 enhanced equipment trust certificates (EETCs). Air Canada expects to use the proceeds to finance nine new Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft.
Together with the airline’s initial $714 million EETC transaction in May 2013, as well as the issuance of $400 million of senior unsecured notes in April 2014 and a $1.4 billion refinancing transaction in September 2013, Vedder Price has successfully completed in excess of $3.5 billion in financing transactions for the airline in under 24 months. Air Canada is Canada’s largest domestic and international airline, serving more than 190 destinations on five continents, and has been selected as “the number one airline in North America” five years in a row by Skytrax, the renowned global air travel rating and review company.
Vedder Price, named “Law Firm of the Year” at the 2015 Aviation 100 Awards, presented by Airline Economics in January in Dublin, has been actively involved in numerous EETC financings, which are basically bonds airlines use to finance their acquisition of aircraft. The EETC is an innovative finance vehicle developed in the United States that is rapidly gaining popularity among non-U.S. airlines. The structure’s popularity is due in large part to the ratification and implementation of the Cape Town Convention, which provides greater protection to investors in cross-border aircraft financing transactions. The initial Air Canada EETC was heralded as the first concluded under the Cape Town Convention.
“Vedder Price excels at providing creative, tailored and efficient capital markets counsel and representation for and on behalf of global carriers and other industry participants,” said Dean N. Gerber, Chair of Vedder Price’s Global Transportation Finance team. “Our world-class aircraft finance team coupled with our superior capital markets experience allows Vedder Price to provide high-quality service that focuses on innovative solutions for our clients. This is but one highly visible example.”
Source: www.vedderprice.com
