Pillsbury Asset Finance Practice Adds Two More Deal of the Year Awards

Airfinance Journal’s awards program seeks to recognize the individuals and companies behind the largest and most complex aviation finance transactions. Pillsbury has frequently been the recipient of such plaudits in recent years, earning 13 Deal of the Year awards from the magazine over the past three years.

The two groundbreaking 2017 deals for which Airfinance Journal has honored Pillsbury are:

• Tax Lease Deal of the Year: Turkish Airlines AFIC/French Lease financing

Pillsbury advised Turkish Airlines on a dual Aircraft Finance Insurance Consortium (AFIC) financing and 10-year French tax lease to support delivery of two Boeing 777-200 freighters in late 2017. The transaction marked the first French tax leveraged lease to be combined with AFIC-guaranteed debt, the first AFIC-supported transaction involving a tax lease and the first AFIC-supported transaction involving freighter aircraft.

Partner Charlotta Otterbeck advised Turkish Airlines on the matter, with support from associate John Hunt.

• Innovative Deal of the Year: Atlas Air/Titan Aviation Hybrid Financing 

A Pillsbury team acted for Atlas Air Worldwide and its subsidiary Titan Aviation to structure an unprecedented $146.5 million hybrid financing facility to support Amazon’s acquisition and conversion of six Boeing 767-300BCF/SFs. The transaction adopted a structure never used before in aviation finance that comprised $127.8 million of privately-placed A1 equipment notes that flowed through pass-through certificates and $18.7 million of institutionally-held A2 loans.

Finance Practice Section Leader Mark Lessard advised Atlas Air and Titan Aviation on the matter, with support from special counsel Jason Greenberg and associates John Hunt and Issac Lee.

Pillsbury’s global Asset Finance team serves as a trusted adviser to the most established names in aviation as well as emerging players around the world, including manufacturers, airlines, lessors, financial institutions, corporations, individuals and other investors. Over the past five years, the group has helped a diverse range of market participants get or keep more than 1,600 commercial and business aircraft flying, reflecting an aggregate asset value of more than $75 billion.